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CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER. PAGE. 

I. Geographical Distribution 13 

II. The Ancient Mexicans 25 

III. The Chichimecs 44 

IV. The Aztecs, or Mexicans 48 

V. The Rival Powers of Anahuac 65 

VI. The Triple Kingdom . 76 

VII. Nezahualcoyotl, King of Tezcoco .... 89 

VIII. Mexico in her Glory . 97 

IX. Last Years of the Mexican Empire .... 109 

X. The Beginning of the End 125 

XL A Glance at the Aztec at Home 142 

XII. Religion. Gods and Goddesses 155 

XIII. The Discovery of Mexico 186 

XIV. Voyage of Hernando Cortez 197 

XV. From Tabasco to Cempoalla 209 

XVI. Destruction of the Ships and March Inland . 226 

XVII. Tlascala, Cholula, and Mexico 245 

XVIII. In the Aztec Stronghold 259 

XIX. Montezuma a Captive 274 

XX. The Disastrous Retreat from Mexico . . . 284 

XXI. The Siege of Mexico 297 

XXII. The Destruction of the City 311 

XXIII. After the Overthrow 325 

XXIV. The Reign of the Viceroys 340 



viii List of Illustrations. 

PAGE 

Aztec Idol 165 

Men Flying 173 

Vapor Baths 177 

Making Bread 181 

Urn 185 

Yucatan Ruins 187 

Map of Yucatan 189 

Cortez 198 

Vera Cruz 221 

Ruins of Papantla 229 

Map — Route of Cortez 234 

View in Tierra Caliente 243 

Cholula . 248 

Volcanoes as seen from Mexico 253 

Map — Valley of Mexico 257 

Cortez and Montezuma 261 

Alvarado 282 

Tree of La Noche Triste ....*.... 293 

Sandoval 307 

Christoval de Olid 310 

Bust of Guatemotzin 326 

Ruins of Mitla 332 

"Church in Mexico , 334 

Aztec Hut 341 

New Mexican Pueblo 345 

Palenque Cross . 353 

Governor's House 357 

Tower of Palenque 3^° 

House of Nuns, Chichen 3^3 

Bas-Relief of Tigers 3^7 

Philip of Spain 375 

Cathedral of Guadalajara 377 

Mission at Monterey 3^3 

Mines 387 

At the Fountain ... 394 

Termination of Aqueduct 39° 

Virgin of Guadalupe 397 

Fagade of Casa de las Monjas 4^7 

A Hacienda 4^5 

Scene in Texas 4^3 

Portrait of Zachary Taylor 43^ 

Battle of Monterey 435 

Table-land of Mexico 44® 



List of Illustrations, ix 

PAGE 

Portrait of General Scott 442 

Map showing Seat of War A.i 

Map of Mexican Valley . . . aa>j 

Gate of St. Antonio ^ei 

Volcanoes, from Tacubaya 457 

Chapultepec , 450 

Mexico at Peace 461 

Sagrario, or Parish Church of Mexico .471 

Mexican Priests of the Past , . . 475 

Portrait of Juarez . " 478 

Portrait of Maximilian 402 

Portrait of Car lota 45 ■7 

Portrait of Romero . . . 498 

Queretaro 499 

Execution of Maximilian 502 

Street Scene in Mexico ' . , 505 

Portrait of Lerdo de Tejada 508 

Mexican Saw-Mill 509 

Scene in the Tierra Templada 512 

Portrait of Diaz 519 

Market Scene, city of Mexico. 525 

Canal of La Viga, city of Mexico 531 

Indian Peon 534 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



MEXICO. 



CHAPTER I. 

GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. 

South of the United States, stretching away towards Cen- 
tral America, hes the country of Mexico. It has a large 
extent of territory, being fifteen hundred miles in length, 
and quite eight hundred miles in width in its broadest part. 
It has a coast line of nearly five thousand five hundred 
miles, and lies between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific 
Ocean. Being so much farther to the south than the 
United States, its climate w^ould naturally be much hotter, 
yet such is not the case all over Mexico. Though it ex- 
tends into the tropics more than six degrees, yet the greater 
'portion of its territory enjoys a temperate climate. This 
is due to the fact that it is a mountainous country. We 
know that in going up a high mountain the temperature 
gets lower, or colder, the higher we ascend. So it is that 
Mexico, though extending far down into the torrid zone, 
has the cool climate of the temperate zone, except along its 
coasts and in the far south. 

We might say that the backbone of Mexico is a long 
mountain-ridge, with ribs of hills spreading away on either 
side to the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, or that the 
mountain system of the Andes stretches along its entire 
length. In speaking of the Andes we naturallv think of 



14 Mexico. 

South America and its ranges of volcanoes ; but if we take 
a map and trace this vast system up through Central Amer- 
ica, we shall see that it rises into great prominence in 
Mexico, and even in the United States, where it is known 
as the Rocky Mountains. 

We shall see that it spreads itself into two great chains ; 
one approaching the eastern and the other the western 
coast, and running northward parallel to them. 

These are the Cordilleras — or chains — of the Andes. 
They enclose between them a vast plain, or plateau, not 
always level, but broken by hills and dotted with other 
mountains or volcanoes. This plateau, the Mexican table- 
land, is several hundred miles in length, and from one to 
three hundred miles in breadth. It is this table-land that 
possesses the temperate climate and produces the plants 
of our own zone, while the plains that lie between the bases 
of the mountains and the coast are hot, and have a tropical 
vegetation. To complete this broad sketch of Mexico, take 
your map again, and note the shape of the country. Does 
it not resemble a cornucopia, a horn of plenty .'' That is 
what it is, a veritable horn of plenty, with its hills and 
mountains containing great stores of silver, and its lowlands 
filled with forests of valuable woods. You will see that the 
throat of this horn of plenty is the most mountainous, and 
that great plains spread out in the north towards the United 
States, and a low, flat peninsula terminates its eastern por- 
tion — the peninsula of Yucatan. This much for a broad, 
general view of the physical features of the country whose 
history we purpose to read. 

You will see that it is no small portion of this North 
American continent that we shall examine. It is a very 
important portion, lying, as it does, — as the great Hum- 
boldt has expressed it — in the highway of commerce be- 
tween the two hemispheres. 



Geographical Description. 



15 



It has other considerations, also, than " those of "a com- 
mercial character, to entitle it to our closest attention. The 
wisest of our learned men have looked upon this region as 




MEXICAN CACTI. 



the seat of American civilization, — that is, that here the 
wild Indian first forsook his habits of savagery and settled 
down to a peaceful life. Here he becam.e civilized^ in fact, 



1 6 Mexico. 

built cities and cultivated land, instead of always fighting 
and wandering about from country to country. 

We shall come to those wonderful cities they built by 
and by, for their ruins fill the forests of the southern portion 
of Mexico and Yucatan. 

It is difficult to choose whether to follow first the history 
of these most ancient of people, or to commence with 
those that have filled a more prominent place in more 
recent times. 

Let us go up into that vast table- land and seek out the 
abiding-place of the nation that ruled Mexico when first 
this country was discovered by Europeans, by white men. 
We shall find ourselves in the valley of Mexico, enclosed 
on all sides by spurs of mountains from that mighty chain 
that strides the whole length of the continent. We shall 
find a valley sixty miles in length and thirty in breadth, 
surrounded by a mountain wall two hundred miles in cir- 
cumference. We shall find it a delightful region of lakes 
and valleys and wooded hills, bathed in tropic sunshine, yet 
with the pure atmosphere of the temperate zone. For it is 
the centre of that region lying in the tropics, yet at an 
altitude so high as to remove it from tropic heat. In the 
distance you may see the glittering domes of two great snow- 
crowned volcanoes. The valley itself is over seven thousand 
feet above the sea, while the volcanoes are more than seven- 
teen thousand ! 

If we could occupy some commanding position, we should 
not fail to note the numerous lakes that stretch along this 
beautiful valley and form a glistening chain its entire length. 
It is they that have given it its Indian name, Afid/iuac* or 
by the water side, since the eailier towns and cities were 
built near their margins, or upon the islands in them. 

And when were these first cities built ? 

* " Anakuac, qujere decir cerca del agua.'''' — Clavigero. 



First Settlement. \7 

Rather, let us ask, when was this valley first populated ? 
We are not the first who have asked this question ; we are 
not the last who will ask it. Constantly, to the inquiring 
mind that searches into the history of our country, this 
question arises : " Whence came these people, and when ? " 

Even yet, with all the light shed by science, we go groping 
about in the dark, asking of ourselves and of one another : 
" When and whence ? " The origin of the American people 
is enveloped in mystery ; but our knowledge of that portion 
that resided in Mexico extends farther into the past than 
of any other, for they were more civilized when discovered 
than any others They had records extending back hundreds 
of years. 

They had cities and white-walled temples and palaces, 
even so long ago as when Columbus sailed into this New 
World ; yes, even when the Northmen coasted our northern 
shores, eight hundred years ago. 

You may add yet another thousand years to those 
eight hundred, and yet not reach the period in which those 
cities were built and to which their records carry us. 

Nobody knows whence came the first populators of 
Mexico. Some historians think that they came from a 
region in the north ; others believe that they originated in 
the south; others say they came from the west, and yet 
others that they came from the east. 

From the north might have come the Jews, the lost tribes 
of Israel, by the way of Behring's Straits to the northwest 
coast of America, and thence, gradually moving southward, 
have reached finally Mexico. 

They might have come this way, and at that remote time 
the islands between Asia and America may have been 
nearer together, or the sea may have been frozen over and 
have given them a safe passage. They may have brought 
with them their flocks and herds, and also all those strange 



i8 



Mexico. 



birds and beasts that we find to-day peculiar to Mexico and 
South America. Those historians who believe this have 
found many things in support of their theory ; they have 
found Jewish manners and customs among the Indian tribes 




A PUEBLO. 



in the north, and have even found some tribes speaking the 
dialect. 

From the west may have appeared the Japanese, the 
Malays, or the Chinese. It would, indeed, seem easier for 



Early Civilization. 19 

these people, any or all of them, to cross to the western 
shore of our continent by sea than by land. There is a 
great " river in the sea " called the Kuro Siwo, or Black 
Stream, similar to our Gulf Stream, that crosses the Pacific 
Ocean from Japan to our northwest coast, and sweeps 
southward along the western shores. By means of this 
ocean river, with its steady current, Japanese junks have 
been drifted across the Pacific to the coast of California. 
One writer, who has given the subject great attention, says 
that a drifting wreck would be carried eastward by the 
Kuro Siwo at the rate of ten miles a day. Cast upon our 
coast, the Japanese sailors may have exerted some influence 
upon the civilization of the Indians already there, but they 
could not have come in this way in sufficient numbers to 
people the country. 

The Malays were bold navigators, and may have vis- 
ited the west coast, but it is a question if any of them 
stayed. 

Looking east, how would it be possible for any people to 
cross the wide expanse of ocean that Columbus first crossed 
in modern times ? It would seem difficult, yet it does not 
seem so to those who believe that from this direction Amer- 
ica first received her people. 

Did you ever hear the story of Atlantis ? 

Atlantis was a great island that is said to have existed in 
the Atlantic ocean ages and ages ago. According to some 
ancient historians it was fertile and beautiful, with exten- 
sive forests and rivers, hills, mountains, valleys — in short, 
a good-sized continent. It was peopled by an intelli- 
gent and warlike race, who even invaded the neighboring 
coast of Africa and perhaps passed into Spain. Some 
Phcenecian navigators claimed to have sailed beyond the 
Pillars of Hercules — the Strait of Gibraltar — and to have 
discovered it. It was claim.ed that this was more than an 



20 



Mexico. 



island — - that it was a continent — and was an extension of 
Central America away out into the Atlantic and over towards 
Africa. The peninsula of Yucatan is considered, by the 
people who hold this theory, as part of that continent which 
sank at some remote age of the world, and left the West 
Ind^a islands as mountains, sticking up above the sea to 
remind us of its former existence. 

This continent, or great island, Atlantis, is said to have 




PHCENECIAN VESSEL. 



had just such temples and palaces of stone as we find in 
Yucatan to-day lying in ruins in the wilderness. Did the 
Phcenecians visit this country by coasting the shores of 
Atlantis, or did part of the Atlantides themselves escape to 
Central America and there build the cities buried in the 
vast forest there now ? It has not been proven that they 
did, any more than that the Jews came from the north, or 
the Malays and the Japanese from the west. 

And what has been proven by all our study of the ruins 
and the records of this people ? 



I 




PHCENECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 



Various Theories. 23 

Only this, that there has long existed in Central America 
— in which we would embrace Southern Mexico and Yu- 
catan — an American civilization superior to any other on 
this continent at the time of its discovery. 

There remains still one more theory to consider : Was it 
possible for this civilization to have been developed by the 
people placed here by the Creator ? 

Was it possible for the Creator to place men and women 
here originally, without making them pass over from the 
other continent ? 

It was possible, was it probable ? 

Some there are who think that this was done ; who claim 
that our continent is oldest, according to its geological for- 
mation, and that it was as likely that people passed to the 
eastern hemisphere from the western as that they should 
have passed to the western from the eastern. 

It is difficult for those who hold this theory to account in 
any other way for the many peculiarities in American ar- 
chitecture, for the totally different aspect of the natives of 
this country from every other. They hold that it would 
have been impossible for all the animals of this so-called 
New World to have originated from the Old World : the 
tapirs, boa-constrictors, pumas, etc., that seem to belong to 
the warmer parts of America alone, — that they would have 
frozen in coming down from the north by way of Behring's 
Straits, with the Jews, even if they had originally been 
created in Europe or Asia. 

Many wise men have at last concluded that our great 
continent was originally settled by two different peoples. 
One was an indigenous race, — created here, belonging ex- 
clusively to this country; and the other came to North 
America from Asia by way of Behring's Straits, or the 
Aleutian islands. In support of this they call our attention 
to the great difference between the northern and the south- 



24 Mexico. 

em Indians. The Indians of Mexico and Central America 
are totally different from those of the United States, Canada 
and Labrador, with the exception of the Mound Builders, 
the Cliff Dwellers and the Pueblo Indians, who belong to 
the south and have strayed away. They are so unlike, that 
only this difference of origin seems to explain the reason 
why it is so. While those Indians now living mainly south 
of the Mexican border have great similarity amongst them- 
selves, and have no representatives in the Old World, those 
of the north seem to have a resemblance to some Indians 
in Eastern Asia. But these are all speculations, with more 
or less of proof in favor of the last theory. 

We will go on to describe the Indians found in Mexico 
at the coming of the white men, and then the reader may 
judge whether these people had a foreign origin ; or whether 
they commenced existence in southern Mexico and founded 
there a great empire, which will be mentioned in its proper 
place. 



The Ancient Mexicans. 25 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ANCIENT MEXICANS. 

[1000 B. C] Perhaps the principal reason why so many 
have sought to find a birthplace for this race in a foreign 
country is because their own traditions are so obscure. 
Yet great historians tell us that they are no more so than 
those of many nations of the Old World. They do not ex- 
tend back so far, that is all. Their earliest traditions reach 
only to about one thousand years before the coming of 
Christ. And where the exact line of division occurs between 
tradition and history it is difficult to determine. But we 
may say pretty positively that their annals may be accepted 
as history so far back as the sixth century. 

[Sixth Century, A. D.] Though the ancient history of 
Mexico commences with the annals of the Toltecs, it is 
believed the country was inhabited by a wild people before 
this race came into prominence. There were the Olmecs 
and Xicalancas, the Otomies and Tepanecs — we are speak- 
ing now of the Mexican valley. Then, also, if we may be- 
lieve the traditions, there were giants in those days. But 
we may find that the history of every people begins with 
fables and traditions regarding giants, and a great flood 
that may have occurred before or after the arrival of the 
giants upon the earth. We shall see, later on, that all 
these different tribes living in Mexico preserved traditions 
of a flood, or deluge, that covered their portion of the world, 
and destroyed the inhabitants of their country. Now, these . 
giants may have been fabled monsters, but the early Indians 



26 Mexico. 

believed that they Uvea here in Mexico. They were good- 
natured men, but very lazy, and when the strangers arrived 
among them from the south they enslaved them. Tired at 
last of the disgusting habits of the giants, the Indians turned 
upon them and slew them, first having put them to sleep by 
drugging their wine. Thus Mexico was freed from these 
worthless giants ; but another monster was to stride over the 
land for many hundred years and make its fair valleys to 
be desolate more than once, this was the demon war. 

THE TOLTECS. 

[596-1050.] Our first certain knowledge is of the race 
known as the Toltecs, — Toltecas^ artificers, or architects, 
— who were really quite civilized when they first appeared 
in the pages of history. They understood and practised 
agriculture and many arts. Being driven from a country 
in which they had been long settled, by invading savages, 
they commenced a journey southward, halting at intervals 
long enough to plant corn and cotton and gather the 
crops. 

[596.] Their annals tell us that they began their migra- 
tion in the year " i Tecpatl," or 596 of our Christian era. 
The country they left, supposed to be in the north, they 
called Huehiie Tlapaltan, or the old Tlapaltan. 

Here again enters speculation, upon the location of that 
country of the Toltecs. No one knows certainly where 
it was, but everything points to its having been in the 
north. 

If you are acquainted with the early history of the United 
States, you will remember that the oldest remains of civili- 
zation there are those of the Mound Builders. You will 
recall the descriptions given of the great earthworks lying 
in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys; works so vast that.it 
must have taken many generations to complete them, and 



The Mound Builders, 29 

erected so long ago that not even the faintest tradition 
remains to tell who built them. 

They were a very civilized race, these Mound Builders, 
very different from the savages who surrounded them, or 
who have since swept over the country they once occu- 
pied. 

They extended their sway, we know, as far north as Lake 
Superior, because old shafts have been discovered in the 
copper mines there, and detached masses of copper ore, 
with the wedges and chisels they used at their work. This 
was but an outpost of theirs, for their great works were in 
the south. Everything seemed to indicate, also, that they 
came from the south. Besides axes, adzes, lance-heads, 
knives, etc., found in these mounds, explorers have also 
unearthed pottery of elegant design, ornaments of silver, 
bone and mica, and of shell from the Gulf of Mexico. 
But there have been found there implements of obsidian^ a 
volcanic product once used by the ancient Mexicans for 
spear-heads, arrow-heads, and knives. This shows that this 
people had connection with Mexico, if they had not origin- 
ally come from there, since this volcanic glass, obsidian, 
" is found in its natural state nowhere nearer the Missis- 
sippi valley than the Mexican mountains of Cerro Gordo." 

There are evidences, likewise, that they possessed the 
art of spinning and weaving, which was unknown to the 
Indians of the north, but practised years ago by those of 
the south — of the West Indies and Mexico. Now, it would 
seem that these great Mound Builders, when they were 
driven from this country, took a southerly direction, and at 
last arrived in Mexico. It is much pleasanter to think this 
than that they were crushed out of existence entirely ; and 
there is a great deal to prove that this was actually the 
case, and that they were identical with those Toltecs who 
came down into Mexico twelve hundred and fifty years ago. 



30 Mexico. 

In doing this, in performing this migration southward, they 
were, it is said, only returning to their old homes, from 
which their ancestors had strayed, it may be, in the first 
years of the world's history. 

[700.] Well, the Toltecs came into Mexico; suddenly 
appearing from the darkness that had enveloped their past, 
and settled finally at Tollantzingo, in the year 700, where, 
twenty years later, they founded the city of Tollan, or Tula. 
It is said by some that Tula already existed, under the 
name of Man-he-mi., and was merely rebuilt and re-named 
by the Toltecs. Be this as it may, the ruins of this capital 
city of the Toltecs now remain on the northern edge of the 
Mexican valley, to point out to the visitor the site of an an- 
cient empire. The writer of this history has seen them — a 
scattered line of earthen-walled houses and temples, occupy- 
ing a ridge of hills overlooking a lovely valley. On the 
face of a cliff is sculptured one of their heroes, and in the 
market-place of the present town of Tula may be seen 
sculptured pillars and great stones, taken from the ancient 
city of Tollantzingo. The Toltec monarchy commenced 
in the year 607 of the Christian era, and lasted till about 
the year 1000, each monarch reigning fifty-two years ; or 
if he died before this period was completed, his successor 
was not appointed until its completion. 

They were more given to the arts of peace than those of 
war, and their civilization was, perhaps, of a higher grade 
than that of any Indian nation that has succeeded them. 
They invented, or reformed, that wonderful calendar system 
which was used by all the people of the valley, and which 
required great knowledge of astronomy in its construction. 
* In about the year 660 they assembled all their wise men,, 
prophets and astrologers, and painted a famous book, which 
they called Teoamoxtli, or Divine Book. In this sacred 
* Clavigero ; year 8 1 2-820, ace. to Bancroft 



The Toltecs. 



31 



book was represented 
the origin of the Indians 
and (according to Span- 
ish writers) tlie confu- 
sion of tongues at the 
building of the tower 
of Babel, the ecUpse of 
the sun that occurred 
at the death of Christ, 
as well as prophecies 
concerning the future 
of the empire. 

[1000.] Eight sov- 
ereigns had reigned in 
Tula before the empire 
began to weaken. It 
was during the reign of 
the emperor Topiltzin, 
some time in the tenth 
century, that this hap- 
pened. And it is said to 
have come about by 
means of the love of the 
king for strong drink, 
and for a woman he 
had no right to 
love. The legend 
runs somewhat in 
this wise : One of 
the Toltec nobles 
(who had such a 
long name that it 
would be difficult 
for us even to 











MEXICAN SYMBOLS. 



32 



Mexico. 



pronounce it) had 
a lovely daughter 
called Xochitl. One 
day this noble suc- 
ceeded in preparing 
a delicious kind of 
a drink — supposed 
to be the pulque^ 
made from the 
maguey plant, and 
now so much drank 
in Mexico. Charmed 
with his success, he 
sent some as a pres- 
ent to his sov- 
ereign by the hand 
of the beautiful 
Xochitl' — pro- 
nounced Hocheetl, 
and signifying the 
flower of Tollan. 
The emperor was so 
delighted with the 
pulque that he or- 
dered a large sup- 
ply, and he was so 
enamored of Xochitl 
that he kept her a 
prisoner in his pal- 
ace for many years 
and would not let 
her return to her 
people. Things 

came to such a pass after a while that his subjects began to 

murmur and many rose in rebellion. 








^ *qf 



*^ 









l^^'^i 








Most Aitcient Ruins. 35 

[A. D. 1050.] And so it happened that, what with civil 
wars, famine and pestilence, there was but little of the great 
Toltec empire left by the middle of the eleventh century, 
and it perished from the earth. The famished and plague- 
stricken people scattered over a wide expanse of territory 
to the southward, leaving their capital city because they 
thought it accursed of their gods. But it was only as a 
nation that the Toltecs disappeared, for many of them 
continued to live in the country, and exerted an important 
influence upon the tribes that afterward invaded the valley 
of Anahuac. It is with a feeling of deep regret that we see 
this cultured race swept into oblivion, and the land they 
occupied once more given over to savages. 

RUINS IN ANAHUAC. 

There are many ruined structures in the valley of Mexico 
that arc attributed to the Toltecs, and were either built by 
them or by the people who preceded them, the Olmecs, or 
the Totonacs. 

The oldest of these ruins, apparently — older even than 
those of Tula, or Tollan — are those of Teotihuacan, 
— the. " City of the Gods," situated in the valley of 
Anahuac, about twenty-five miles from the present, city of 
Mexico. There are two great pyramids here, called the 
" Pyramid of the Moon " and the " Pyramid of the Sun ; " 
and, besides these, there are long rows, some miles in length, 
of mounds and smaller pyramids. The pyramid of the 
moon measures 426 feet long on one side at the base, by 
511 feet on another, and is 137 feet high. There is a gallery 
leading in to a deep well in the centre of the pyramid, 
which is thought to contain treasure. 

About 2700 feet from the pyramid of the moon is that 
of the sun, larger than the former, being about 735 feet 
square at the base and 203 feet high. It was called by the 



36 Mexico. 

ancients, Tonatiuh Itzacual, or " house of the sun." Both 
pyramids are built in terraces and have broad platforms at 
their summits, upon one of which was borne a statue of the 
sun and upon the other that of the moon, both covered 
with gold and glistening in the sun so that worshipers com- 
ing to this valley could see them many miles away. It is 
thought that the Spanish soldiers stripped off the golden 
coverings of the idols, and the statues themselves have long 
since disappeared ; though there are yet some large carved 
blocks of stone to be found at the base of one of the pyramids. 

It is said that this was the site of a great city, a holy 
place, where the priests of the people resided. The most 
perplexing and peculiar feature of these ruins is the broad 
avenue, lined on either side with mounds, two hundred and 
fifty feet wide, called in the native traditions, Micaotli, or 
" path of the dead." Many traditions refer to this place 
as a holy city, and not only the dwelling-place of the gods 
and priests, but that to which the kings of the different 
people came to be crowned. One historian relates what 
is said to have happened here once, towards the destruction 
*of the Toltec empire. "The gods were very angry with 
the Toltecs, and to avert their wrath, a meeting of .all the 
wise men, priests and nobles, was called at Teotihuacan, 
where the gods from most ancient times had been wont 
to hear the prayers of men. 

" In the midst of the feasts and sacrifices an enormous 
demon with long bony arms and fingers, appeared dancing 
in the court where the people were assembled. Whirling 
through the crowd in every direction he seized upon the 
Toltecs that came in his way and dashed them at his teet. 
He appeared a second time, and the people perished by 
hundreds in his clutches. At his next appearance the 
demon assumed the form of a white and beautiful child, 
sitting on a rock and gazing at the holy city from a neighbor- 



The God of the Air. 39 

ing hill-top. As the people rushed in crowds to examine this 
strange creation, it was discovered that the child's head 
was a mass of corruption, the stench from which smote 
with death all who approached it. Finally the devil, or the 
god, appeared again and warned the Toltecs that their fate 
was sealed as a nation, and that they could only escape 
destruction by flight." 

The visitor to this city of the gods to-day will find, 
scattered all over the surface of the pyramids and mounds, 
along the road of the dead and in the adjacent fields, 
numerous heads of clay, or terra cotta. They are 
grotesque in feature and singular in design. It is not 
known what use was made of them, why they were made 
in such quantities, nor why only heads are found, instead of 
entire figures having a body as well. It is thought by 
some that these idols were given by the priests, or holy men, 
to the crowds of worshipers who used to resort to this 
city of sanctuaries in these early times. 

Whether those pyramids are Toltec, Olmec, or Totonac, 
it is very certain that they were built by a people who 
inhabited Anahuac long before the Aztecs arrived in it. 

QUETZALCOATL, GOD OF THE AIR. 

Before passing on to the people that succeeded the 
Toltecs in the valley of Mexico, let us glance at another 
pyramid of the past, belonging to this epoch, and at a great 
hero mentioned in Toltec traditions. We have seen that 
Tula was their capital and that there they lived in peace 
for many years. It was some time during their residence 
there that Quetzalcoatl, the " Feathered Serpent," appeared 
amongst them. He was a beneficent deity, who seemed to 
have taken the shape of a man in order to improve the con- 
dition of the people of earth. His name is constructed 
from two words. Quetzal^ a bird of beautiful plumage found 



40 



Mexico. 



in the forests of southern Mexico, and Coatl^ a serpent, 
also found there — Quetzalcoatl, the "Plumed Serpent."' 
The traditions, or legends, paint him as a tall, white man 
with a large beard, in complexion and general appearance 
very different from the Indians, among whom he lived, in 
Tula, as " God of the Air." 

Everything prospered exceedingly during his stay, and 
the people wanted for nothing. He created large and 
beautiful palaces of silver, precious stones, and even of 
feathers. In his time corn grew so strong that a single 
ear was a load for a man, gourds were as long as a man's 
body, pumpkins were a fathom in circumference, while cot- 
ton grew on its stalks of all colors, red, yellow, scarlet, blue, 
and green. He taught the people all their wonderful arts : 
how to cut the precious green stone, the chalchiuite, and the 
casting of metals. He also had an incredible number of 
beautiful and sweet-singing birds, the like of which has not 
been seen in the country since his time. 

But all this prosperity was to come to an end. There came 
amongst the people an evil-minded god called Tezcatlipoca, 
who wished to drive Quetzalcoatl from the country. So he 
appeared to him in the form of an old man, and told him 
that it was the will of the gods that he should be taken to 
Tlapalla. After drinking a beverage the old man offered 
him, the Plumed Serpent felt so strongly inclined to go that 
he set out at once, accompanied by many of his subjects. 
Near a city yet pointed out in the valley of Mexico, that of 
Quauhtitlan, he felled a tree with stones, which remained 
fixed in the trunk ; and near Halnepantla he laid his hand 
on a stone and left an impression which the Mexicans 
showed the Spaniards after the conquest. Finally, on his 
way to the coast, he passed through the valley of Cholula, 
where the inhabitants detained him and made him ruler 
over their city. 



The Pyramid of Cholula. 4 1 

He did not approve of the sacrifice of human beings, 
which some of the tribes performed in their worship, but he 
was a mild and benevolent being, and ordered that they 
offer to the gods only flowers and fruits. 

After twenty years, he continued his journey, though the 
sorrowing Cholulans would have detained him longer. 
Taking with him four noble and virtuous youths, he set out 
for the province of Coatzcoalcos, on the Gulf of Mexico. 
Here he dismissed his attendants and launched upon 
the waters of the gulf alone, while they returned and ruled 
over Cholula for many years. It is said that Quetzalcoatl 
appeared upon the coast of Yucatan, where he was wor- 
shiped under the name of Kukulcan ; and his image may 
be seen to-day, cut in the wall of one of the vast ruined 
edifices of Yucatan. 

He promised his followers of Tula and of Cholula that 
he would some time return, and bring back to them the 
prosperity that had attended his coming. For everything 
changed when he left, and even the sweet-singing birds 
he sent before him to that mysterious kingdom in the east, 
the land of Tlapallan. 

Now, this is but a tale of the priests, a legend of those 
early Mexicans, yet their descendants firmly believed in it, 
and looked for the promised return of the Feathered Ser- 
pent for hundreds of years. We shall find, farther on in 
this history, that the Aztecs believed in his coming and at 
first took the cruel Spaniards to be messengers from the 
mild and beneficent Quetzalcoatl. They thought they 
were messengers of life, these fierce and bloodthirsty de- 
mons of death ! 

THE PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. 

Even at the arrival of the Spaniards, the city of Cholula 
was considered a holy place, the residence of the priests. 



42 



Mexico^ 



Its inhabitants raised here an immense mound in honor of 
Quetzalcoatl, with a temple on its summit dedicated to his 
worship. It was more than a mound, it was 2i pyramid^ the 
largest in America, with a broader base even than any of 
those of Egypt. It covers a surface of more than forty 










PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. 



acres, is 1440 feet "square at its base, and rises to a height 
of nearly two hundred feet. Though some ignorant writers 
have called this Pyramid of Cholula merely a natural hill, it 
has been proven to be wholly af-fificial. It is constructed of 
adobe^ or sun-baked bricks, and is built in terraces with a 
broad platform at the top about two hundred feet square. It 



The Hill of Shouting. 43 

is said that the bricks used in its construction came from 
Tlamanalco, several leagues distant, and were passed from 
hand to hand, along a; long line of men. This statement, 
however, may well be questioned. But that it is built of 
bricks, any one who has seen it can testify. The writer 
of this history has himself examined it, and wondered at 
the evidence here shown of past labor, skill and patience. 
He has climbed its terraced sides and has looked over the 
plain that once held the city of the priests, across the fer- 
tile fields to the great volcanoes that reach the clouds with 
their crests of snow. 

When Quetzalcoatl was alive — when^ indeed — he issued 
his orders to the inhabitants of Tula by means of a crier, 
who ascended a mountain near by, called the " hill of 
shouting," and proclaimed the high priest's orders. The 
hill was so high, or the crier could shout so loud, that his 
voice could be heard for one hundred leagues around. It 
was very convenient for Quetzalcoatl to have such a crier 
as that, in those old days before the invention of telephones 
and railroads. 

It is possible that he took this same great shouter with 
him to Cholula, and that he sent his marvelous voice far 
and wide over the valley, even to the crests of the surround- 
ing mountains. We have diverged from our description of 
the different tribes, or nations, that invaded Anahuac, in 
order to describe these pyramids, these monuments of those 
most ancient of Mexican people, because they were the 
work, probably, of their hands. 

We will now take leave of the Toltecs and glance at the 
next tribe that occupied the valley. 



44 Mexico. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE CHICHIMECS. 

[A. D. iioo.] Nearly an age, or cycle (fifty-two years), 
passed after the scattering of the Toltecs before their ter- 
ritory was invaded by another tribe. Then came the 
Chichimecs into Anahuac. They were said by some histo- 
rians to be the oldest nation in Mexico ; but this is not so, 
though they had long existed there. Chichimec was a term 
also applied to all the unknown savage tribes, hence the 
confusion. At one time they were a barbarous people, 
and wandered about half-naked in the mountains, living in 
miserable huts. They took possession of all territory which 
they discovered unoccupied, became more civilized in the 
course of time, and established a monarchy which counted 
fourteen kings, and which lasted from 1120 to the coming 
of the Spaniards in 1520 — four hundred years. 

Let us see how this powerful monarchy commenced. It 
was not long after those disasters that had overtaken the 
Toltecs, before the Chichimecs, living around the borders 
of that empire, found out that something had happened. 
They no longer saw the Toltecs on expeditions, nor met 
them in battles and skirmishes. Then they sent scouts 
into their territory, who returned with the astonishing tidings 
of the destruction of the nation and the abandonment of 
Tula. A little later they prepared to invade the land of 
their once powerful foes, who had ranked so high above 
them in the arts of civilization. They advanced cautiously, 
but wherever they settled they had come to stay, and so 



The Chichimecs. 45 

they progressed until they reached the great valley of Ana- 
huac. It belonged to them. They did not even have to 
conquer it, only to march in and possess themselves of it. 
The few Toltec families and bands of Toltecs they encoun- 
tered they strove to incorporate into their society, and thus 
gained their good-will and the great advantage of their supe- 
rior knowledge. 

[12th Century.] Finally they established themselves on 
the eastern shore of Lake Tezcoco, the largest in the val- 
ley, and here commenced their capital city, under their 
leader, Xolotl (Holotl), whom they recognized as their 
king. They intermarried with the Toltecs, and thus grad- 
ually became more and more refined, learning from these 
unfortunate people the advantages to be derived from agri- 
culture and mining, and the art of casting and working 
metals, spinning, weaving, and many other things, by which 
they improved their means of living, their clothing, their 
habitations and their manners. 

Not many years had elapsed before another powerful 
tribe came into the valley, from a region not far distant 
from the original home of the Chichimecs. They were 
princes of the Acolhua nation, with a great army. Though 
their coming created much disturbance at first, King Xolotl 
received them kindly, and assigned them land on the west- 
ern side of the lake. He also married two of the princes 
to his two daughters, and gave to the third a lady born of 
noble parents. So it came about, in the end, that the more 
refined of the Chichimecs dropped their old name, and came 
to be known as Acolhuas, and their kingdom as Acolhuacan. 
Those only were called Chichimecs who still pursued a 
savage life, and preferred the wandering life of a hunter to 
that of the peaceful agriculturist. They gradually strayed 
away, joining the barbarous Otomies, and formed those wild 
bands that worried the Spaniards for many years after they 
had conquered the others. 



46 Mexico. 

[13th Century.] After reigning about forty years, Xolotl 
died, and his son, Nopaltzin, occupied the throne ; and he, 
after a period of disturbance, was succeeded by his son 
Holtzin. The most conspicuous of these Chichimec mon- 
archs of that age was the next, the fourth. King Quinantzin. 
Until his time the court had not been held at Tezcoco 
entirely, but divided between that city and Tenayuca, on 
the other side of the lake. Now it was transferred to Tez- 
coco, and the king was borne on the shoulders of four of 
the principal lords of his kingdom, in a litter. He was the 
first to introduce such style and ceremony, and was much 
hated for it in consequence. He had a stormy reign, but 
at the last his kingdom was united and powerful. 

When King Quinantzin died his body was embalmed, 
clothed in royal raiment, and placed in a chair, with bow 
and arrow in his hand, an image of an eagle at his feet 
and a tiger at his back, to signify his bravery, and exposed 
in this state to the people for forty days, after which he 
was burnt, and his ashes deposited in a cave in the moun- 
tains back of Tezcoco. 

This Chichimec, or Tezcocan, dynasty really lasted for 
over four hundred years, and only ended in 1520, when 
the Spaniards invaded Mexico. Eleven chosen kings and 
two usurpers occupied the throne, including among them 
at least three so famous in the annals of Mexico as to 
deserve especial mention. These will be named in their 
proper place. Meanwhile, we must interrupt the chrono- 
logical sequence, as relates to the kingdom of Tezcoco, to 
notice the arrival in the valley of Anahuac of other tribes 
destined to play important parts in the working out of 
the destiny of the Mexicans as a nation. 

The Acolhuas (of whom mention has been made, and 
who were incorporated into the Chichimec confederacy) 
were followed by several other tribes, or nations, who were 



The Nahuatl Tribes. 47 

assigned by the king at Tezcoco various places of resi- 
dence about the great lake. 

Of the Otomies, Xicalancas, and Tepanecs, we have 
already spoken. If we should go beyond the limits of the 
great Mexican valley, we should find that there were yet 
other peoples. There was the powerful nation of Michoa- 
can, which, though the period of its , foundation is not 
exactly known, is thought to have been contemporary with 
that of Anahuac. The people of this kingdom were the 
Tarascos, who were in no way less refined than the Acol- 
huans. Away down in Southern Mexico dwelt several 
other civilized nations : the Zapotecs, the Miztecs, the 
Chiapans, and the Mayas of Yucatan, whose history will be 
dwelt upon at length as we reach them in the course of 
events. If we confine ourselves to mentioning only the 
most powerful, and those which figured prominently in the 
subsequent wars with the Spaniards, it will be sufficient, 
without confusing the memory with a multitude of long 
Indian names of comparatively insignificant peoples. 

At various times during the twelfth and thirteenth centu- 
ries, different tribes came straggling into the valley of Ana- 
huac. The most powerful of these belonged (it is thought) 
to one great nation, and spoke the same language. They 
were called Nahuatlacas^ and came from the land of Aztlan. 
There were seven tribes : the Sochimilcas, the Chalchese, 
Tepanecas, Colhuas, Tlahuicas, Tlascallans, nad Mexicans. 



48 Mexico. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE AZTECS, OR MEXICANS. 

[A. D. 1 1 60.] Where was the land of Aztlan? the 
"country of herons," from which the seven tribes invaded 
Anahuac ? We know not ; various writers have assigned 
it as various positions, ranging all the way from the Gulf of 
California to the Gulf of Mexico. The preponderance of 
opinion, however, seems to be in favor of locating it in the 
north. Not that this was the original country of the Nahu- 
atlacas, for it is believed, with great reason, that this — the 
birthplace of the race — was in the south ! Migrating 
northward, they reached a point somewhere in Southern 
California, and thence they went no farther northward ; 
they may have dwelt there for ages, until this great impulse 
came over them to return to the south, to the birthplace of 
these " children of the sun." But so much of their tradi- 
tion as has been accepted as history, tells us only of Aztlan 
as their place of residence when the great migration com- 
menced which was to re-populate the country deserted of 
the Toltecs. 

[A. D. 1 160.] Among the Aztecs, who dwelt in Aztlan, 
was a person of authority named Huitziton, who was desir- 
ous that his people should leave that country and seek 
another. One day, sitting beneath a tree, he heard — or 
pretended he heard — a little bird, constantly repeating in 
the Azcec tongue, '' tihui, tihui — let us go! let us go!" 
Now, Huitziton took this to be a message from the gods, 
directing him and his companions to change their place of 



The Aztecs, or Mexicans. 51 

residence. In those days people must have paid more atten- 
tion to the voices of the birds than now, or must have given 
their utterances more significance. Who of us cannot recall 
some bird of our own land that would give us a similar 
message, if we would but construe it so ? The singular 
thing about these bird-voices is, that they always speak in 
the language of the people they dwell amongst, and seem 
not to have an universal language of their own ! 

Well, this was enough for Huitziton and the deluded 
people who listened to him, and so they packed up what 
few things comprised their household effects, and began to 
travel. It is thought that all the seven tribes started 
together, or about the same time, but all had got into the 
valley of Mexico and comfortably settled before the Aztecs 
finally reached it. It is thought that they crossed the river 
Colorado near the head of the Gulf of California, and 
thence went southeastwardly. There are in that part of 
Mexico the ruins of great stone buildings, called the casas 
gra?ides, or great houses, which it is believed the Aztecs 
built in the halts during this migration. They were con- 
structed on the same plan as those of New Mexico, where 
the Pueblo people live, with terraces, each floor, or story, 
reached only by ladders. They still kept marching south- 
ward in an aimless sort of way, impelled by an irresistible 
instinct, and we next hear of them at Chicomoztoc, or the 
Place of Seven Caves, which one writer thinks was near the 
present city of Zacatecas, where there are the remains of 
ancient buildings. Here six of the tribes separated from 
the Mexicans and went off independently, though they all 
subsequently met again in the Mexican valley. Here, or at 
some previous stopping-place, the Mexicans had made them- 
selves a god of wood, which they called Huitzilopochtli. 
naming him probably from their leader, Huitziton, who was 
now dead. Four crafty men appointed themselves priests, 



52 Mexico. 

and gave out that it was by the orders of Huitziton, who 
they said was now an immortal god, that they had made the 
idol. They called themselves Teo7nana, or god-bearers, and 
ever after bore this senseless image on their shoulders. 

Particular attention should be paid to these events, 
because from this time dated three important things : the 
change of the name of the people from Aztec to Mexican ; 
the manufacture of that image of the god Huitzilopochtli^ 
whose worship afterwards called for the sacrifice of mil- 
hons of human beings ; and the establishment of the priest- 
hood — that curse to Mexico from that day to this ! 

The priests were not at all behind the Romish priests of 
the present day in craft and cunning, and had a com.muni- 
cation ready from their god whenever the interest of their 
deluded subjects seemed to flag. 

It must have been hard work for those god-bearers, this 
carrying of that heavy image (some writers think it was of 
stone, even at that time), but they were well rewarded for 
their pains in the respect and devotion of their followers. 
They had a message from Huitzilopochtli right away, to 
the effect that he had selected them as his own and only 
people, for whom he destined a glorious future — provided 
they always minded the priests, who delivered this message; 
and he ordered them to abandon the name of Aztec and 
adopt that of Mexican, and to wear upon their foreheads 
and ears a patch of gum and feathers as marks of their 
distinction. They were then presented with a net and 
bunch of arrows as insignia. 

About this time, the legend runs, there mysteriously 
appeared two small bundles in the Mexican camp, which 
were the cause of the tribe being divided into two parties. 
One party secured in their bundle a very precious stone, 
and they thought they had the best of it when it was 
found that the bundle of the other party only contained 



Aztec Migration, 53 

two sticks. From these two sticks, however, they obtained 
fire, which was far more useful to them than the gem, and 
which the other party would gladly have bargained their 
precious stone to obtain. This story the historians regard 
in the light of a fable, to teach us that the useful is always 
preferable to the beautiful. It served to account, also, 
for the division of the Mexicans into two parties, which 
remained distinct and jealous of one another for many 
years, held together only by their mutual interest in that 
worthless wooden god. 

[A. D. 1 196.] Finally, it is said, they reached the city 
of Tula, the ruined capital of the Toltecs, which had been 
abandoned nearly one hundred and fifty years before. 

During all these years of travel they had moved leisurely ; 
for, though they may have heard of the famous valley of 
Mexico, they had no special reason for reaching it at any 
particular time. It was as if we might set out on a voyage 
of discovery, looking for a place that suited us in its 
climate, soil, and appearance, and hngering on our way 
wherever the fancy struck us. It must also be borne in 
mind that it was necessary at times to make long halts, in 
order to plant and gather corn and cotton, and such things 
as they needed for food and apparel. 

They stopped at Tula nine years. Here they had at 
last reached the northern verge of the Mexican valley ; 
before them lay the promised land they were in future 
years to govern, where they were to erect an empire, the 
greatest, perhaps, in the New World, the fall of which was 
to include millions in its overthrow. 

[A. D. 1 2 16.] During the first years of the thirteenth 
century they advanced farther into the valley, which had 
become the objective point of so many tribes. At the city 
of Zumpango they were very well received by the lord of 
that place, Tochpanecatl, who not only entertained them 



54 Mexico. 

well, but married one of their noble virgins to his son, 
Ilhuicatl. From this union descended those famous kings 
of Mexico, who inled the valley over a hundred years 
later. 

It was during the reign of one of the first Chichimec 
kings, who, you will remember, entered Anahuac a 
century earlier, in about the year iioo. The king then in 
power, either Xolotl, or his son Nopaltzin, let them wander 
where they liked and settle where they would, having 
nothing to fear from such a wretched band of savages as 
the Mexicans were at that time. 

Ah ! if he could have foreseen the height which those 
despised Aztecs were to attain, and that even his own 
kingdom was one day to lie prostrate at their feet, do you 
not think he would have killed them, then and there ? 

As it was, however, he afforded them no protection — 
as, indeed, why should he ? — and they suffered much from 
the persecutions of petty tribes established in the valley 
before them. They wandered from point to point about 
the great Lake Tezcoco, and finally made a stand at 
Chapultepec, a rocky hill, situated on the western border 
of the lake. 

[A. D. 1245.] I^ the annals of the Mexicans, Chapulte- 
pec is called the "hill of the grasshopper" — r/^^/^/ mean- 
ing grasshopper, and tepee hill. They gave it this name 
either because they found grasshoppers there in abundance, 
or because they were obliged to subsist upon them as their 
principal food. 

This place, Chapultepec, became famous in later years 
as the resort and the burial-place of the Mexican kings, 
and just about six himdred years later a decisive battle was 
fought there between the soldiers of two nations that at 
that time had not been heard of, - the troops of the Repub- 
lic of Mexico and the United States ! 



\ 




MEXICAN WAR-GOD, HUITZILOPOCH XLI. 



Mexicans in Slavery. 57 

Let us try to recall the date of Chapultepec's first ap- 
pearance in history, when we shall, at a later period, wander 
beneath its cypress groves, with Montezuma, or heroes of a 
later generation. 

[A. D. 1260.] After seventeen years at Chapultepec the 
Mexicans were driven thence to the southern borders of 
the lake, Tezcoco, where they existed for fifty years in a 
state of misery, feeding on fish and insects and reptiles of 
the marshes. They clothed themselves in garments of 
leaves, and their huts were made of the reeds and rushes 
surrounding the lake. They were free, however, and it is 
thought that they willingly endured these hardships rather 
than ally themselves with any other tribe. 

But in the year 13 14, they were made slaves by the Col- 
huas, who lived near the junction of the fresh-water lake of 
Chalco, or Xochimilco, with the salt-water lake of Tezcoco. 

[A. D. 1320.] After they had been slaves some years a 
war broke out between the Colhuas and the Xochimilcas, 
both of whom were tribes that had separated from the 
Mexicans at the Place of the Seven Caves. The Colhuas 
were very willing the Mexicans should assist them in this 
war, but they provided them with no arms. Then the 
Mexicans armed themselves : they provided long poles, 
hardening their sharpened ends in the fire, knives of itzli^ 
or obsidian (that volcanic glass peculiar to the country) 
and shields of reeds woven together; thus armed, they 
rushed upon the enemy. ~ They had resolved to take 
no prisoners, as that would waste their time and retard 
their victory ; but to cut off an ear from every man they 
captured and then to let him go. The Xochimilcas were 
terrified at the savage attacks of these fierce Mexicans, for 
they were fighting for freedom and fought their best^ and 
they fled to the mountains. 

When the Colhua soldiers came to show their captives, 



58 Mexico. 

after the battle, they laughed at the Mexicans because they 
had none. But when these artful savages opened their 
baskets of rushes and showed the great number of ears 
they had cut off, and explained that each ear represented 
a prisoner, and that they had done this in order to assure 
a more speedy victory, the Colhuas were silenced. They 
were so terrified at the prospect of having such terrible 
people among them as slaves, that they gave them their 
freedom and ordered them out of their country. 

Perhaps they were all the more ready to do this when 
they were called upon by the Mexicans to witness a sacrifice 
in honor of their god, who had given them the victory. 
They had asked of the Colhuas something to place on the 
altar as an offering, and they had sent them a filthy bird. 
The Mexicans said nothing, but placed in its stead a 
knife and a fragrant herb. Then, after the King of the 
Colhuas and all his nobility were assembled, they brought 
out four Xochimilcan prisoners, whom they had concealed, 
and throwing them upon the altar cut out their hearts and 
offered them to their god, Hiiitzilopochtli. This event 
excited such horror that the Mexicans were at once driven 
forth to seek a new place of abode. 

This should be noted as the first human sacrifice among 
them of which there is any record. It was the beginning 
of that terrible slaughter of men that afterwards drenched 
the altars of the Mexican god with blood . 

The Mexicans left the south shore of Lake Tezcoco, and 
came at last to a point — an island, or a marshy spot — in 
the lake, not far from the former tarrying-place of Chapul- 
tepec, which they had left full sixty years before. 

It must be remembered that we are not narrating the 
travels of a mighty nation, but of a battered tribe perhaps 
not large in number, and the petty fights and squabbles of 
insignificant clans, or bands ; their greatness was of the 
future. 



The Founding of the City. 59 

The Aztecs have been justly called the pests of Ana- 
huac, for they seemed unwilling to live at peace with any 
other tribe. Owing to their fierce character and their 
bloody religious rites they were hated by all. The King 
of the Colhuas was a follower of the prophet of peace, 
Quetzalcoatl, and could not agree with the priests of the 
god of the Mexicans. We shall see by following this his- 
tory to its termination how these priests brought final 
destruction to this people ; such as has been the fate of all 
kingdoms founded in superstition and ruled by priests. 

[A. D. 1325.] We now come to that period when the 
Mexicans were to cease their wanderings and to have a 
fixed abode. It was in the year 1325. They had tried to 
exist at many points about the lake, but had been driven 
from them all. They now fixed upon an island two or 
three miles from Chapultepec, in the lake Tezcoco. There 
the priests discovered an eagle, or bird of prey, perched 
upon a nopal, or prickly-pear, which grew out of the crev- 
ices of a rock on this small island. This the priests de- 
clared to be in accordance with an oracle communicated to 
them by their god, Huitzilopochtli, and here they built a 
hut of rushes and reeds to serve temporarily as a temple 
for their cherished idol. Some say that the nopal grew in 
the middle of a lovely pool, into which two of the priests 
dove down and had an interview with old Tlaloc, the god 
of waters, who told them they had at last reached the spot 
predicted by their oracle, and there to build their city. In 
this manner was founded the city of Tenochtitlan, " which in 
future times was to become the court of a great empire, 
and the largest and most beautiful city in the new world." 
Around the temple of their idol they built their rude huts 
of grass and reeds, and called this nucleus of a city, Mex- 
ico, or the place of Mexitli, their war-god, this being an- 
other name for the god Huitzilopochtli. Their first human 



6o Mexico. 

sacrifice had been attended witli sucli good results that 
they resolved to celebrate the building of the new temple 
— humble though it was — by the taking of another vic- 
tim's life. They captured one of their enemies, and cutting 
out his heart with a sharp knife of flint, or obsidian, offered 
it to their god. Thus was baptized with blood the founda- 
tion stone of Mexico, a city that two centuries later was to 
be wrested from the race that built it, attended by the 
slaughter of thousands. The condition of the Mexicans 
was yet very wretched, for they had made enemies of all the 
tribes in Anahuac, and had to depend upon their sole exer- 
tions. Their island, in the first place, was too small, and 
to remedy this they dug ditches and canals, and banked up 
the marshy places to form gardens and building spots. 
For food, they depended upon fish and the reptiles and 
insects of the lake, and at the end of the rainy season the 
lake was covered — even as at the present day — by innu- 
merable water-fowl. It was at this period, or a little pre- 
vious, that they constructed those ^^oxv^&xivX floating gardens^ 
upon which they raised their corn and vegetables. 

There has been much dispute over this subject, as to 
whether the ancient Mexicans ever really had any such 
things as these floating gardens, as none of them can be 
found at the present day. There is no doubt that they did 
have them, for if we take into account the nature of their 
surroundings : with no firm land extensive enough for cul- 
tivation, and the nearest shore in possession of enemies, 
we must see that it was necessary for them to have some- 
thing of the kind. It is said that they wove together wil- 
lows and rushes, and upon this floating framework piled 
grass, leaves, and mud, thus forming a very fertile soil, 
always moist and extremely productive. These little gar- 
dens they could tow about from place to place after their 
canoes ; but though writers of a century ago or more claim 



Floating Gardens. 63 

to have seen these chinampas, or floating gardens, none 
have existed within the memory of people now Hving. 
What are now called by that name are squares of firm 
land surrounded by ditches, which may at one time have 
formed these gardens, but which have been left by the 
falling of the lake, and no longer float. Upon these they 
raised their limited supply of vegetables : corn, peppers, 
chia, beans, and gourds, or pumpkins. 

[A. D. 1338 or 1340.] It was not long that this 
quarrelsome people could live together without fighting 
amongst themselves, and ten or fifteen years after the 
founding of the city the two parties — the Mexicans and 
the Tlatelolcans — separated, the latter going to a still 
smaller island near the main one. The Mexicans, how- 
ever, kept the god, and, though their neighbors were more 
progressive at first, were in the end triumphant. Though 
for a while each faction had a separate government and its 
king, the Mexican is the one that finally absorbed the 
other, and whose history we shall mainly follow. 

Before we close this chapter we are obliged to chronicle 
another deed of blood that disgraced this degraded people. 
Their god, through his servants the priests, had given out 
that they must have a maiden of foreign birth to be created 
the " mother of the gods." They sent to the King of the 
Colhuas, and asked him for his daughter to be erected to this 
high place in their catalogue of deities. Very much flat- 
tered, the unsuspecting chief sent his beloved daughter, 
whom the Mexicans conducted in triumph to their capital. 
There, at the command of the priests, this innocent maiden 
was killed and flayed, and one of the young braves of the 
tribe clothed in her skin. The unfortunate king was then 
sent for to do homage to this mother of the gods. He 
entered the temple with a censer in his hand, and was 
about to begin his worship when he discovered in the dark- 



64 Mexico. 

ness that horrible spectacle of the youth clothed in the 
bloody skin of his unfortunate daughter. Stricken with 
anguish, the miserable monarch fled from the temple, call- 
ing upon his people to avenge this terrible outrage. The 
Mexicans were too powerful to be punished as they de- 
served, and the wretched father returned to his residence 
to mourn his daughter the remainder of his life. 

The king's daughter was thus created a goddess, and as 
such was regarded by the Mexicans, under the name of 
Tetoinan, or "mother of all the gods." 



The Rival Powers of Anahtcac. 65 



CHAPTER V. 

THE RIVAL POWERS OF ANAHUAC. 

[A. D. 1350-1431.] In 1350, the Mexicans elected their 
first king, Acamapichtli. This was done without the con- 
sent of the King of the Tepanecs, who resided at Azcapo- 
zalco, on the mainland, and to whom they paid tribute. 
The Tepanec king forthwith doubled their tribute, and also 
imposed several very hard conditions for their remaining 
in Mexico. He ordered them to bring to his capital several 
thousand willow and fir trees, and to plant them in the 
gardens of Azcapozalco, as well as one of their floating 
gardens, with all their vegetables growing on it. The next 
year he commanded them to bring him one of these chinam- 
pas, with a duck and a swan sitting on their eggs, and at 
such a time that they would hatch upon arrival at his 
court. Next year's command was that they should bring 
him one of these gardens with a live deer on it, knowing 
that they would have to go to the mountains, amongst tribes 
at war with them, to procure it. 

They fulfilled all their obligations, owing to the help 
given them by their god, and patiently waited for the time 
when they should be freed from the exactions of the king ; 
they are said to have endured them for fifty years. The 
founding of the city of Mexico, in 1325, was during the 
reign, probably, of the Chichimec king, Quinantzin, with 
whom we closed the account of that people in chapter the 
third. He was succeeded by King Techotl, who was fol- 



66 



Mexico. 



lowed by Ixtlilxochitl, in the first years of the fifteenth 
century, probably in 1406. 

[A. D. 1389.] Acamapichth, King of the Mexicans, died 
in 1389, and the throne was given to the brave Huitzili- 




MEXICAN WARRIOR. 



huitl. He was a young man and unmarried, and some of 
the nobles went to the King of the Tepanecs, their master, 
and humbly besought him to give them his daughter to be 
married to their king. The following speech, put in their 



The Mexicans Prosper, Sj 

mouths by the historian, will illustrate their abasement and 
their cunning : " Behold, great lord, the poor Mexicans at 
your feet, humbly expecting from your goodness a favor 
which is greatly beyond their merit. Behold us hanging 
upon your lips, and waiting only your signals to obey. We 
beseech you, with the most profound respect, to take com- 
passion upon our master and your servant, Huitzilihuitl, 
confined among the thick rushes of the lake. Hjp is with- 
out a wife, and we without a queen. Vouchsafe, sir, to 
part with one of your jewels, or most precious feathers. 
Give us one of your daughters, who may come to reign over 
us in a country which belongs to you." 

The king was not proof against this sort of flattery. He 
gave them his daughter, and she was married to King 
Huitzilihuitl, by the usual ceremony of tying the skirts of 
their robes together. Having strengthened himself by the 
possession of this " precious feather," the crafty king pro- 
cured another wife, also the daughter of a neighboring lord. 
There is no knowing how many wives he did get, for he 
was very anxious to strengthen Mexican relations with their 
neighbors, and there was no law against his marrying as 
many as he pleased. 

Techotl^ the King of Tezcoco, was yet ruler over the 
valley, and in suppressing an extensive rebellion he called 
upon the kings of Mexico and Azcapozalco to aid him. 
As they returned covered with glory they acquired respect 
from the surrounding tribes. Under Huitzilihuitl, the 
Mexicans prospered as never before ; they began to wear 
clothes of cotton, having had till this time only coarse gar- 
ments made of the threads of the wild palm, and perhaps 
of the maguey. 

[A. D. 1402.] The Tlaltelolcos, the people forming the 
other division of Mexico, had also elected a king, and for 
many years there was a great rivalry between them and the 



6S Mexico. 

Mexicans. But King Huitzilihuitl dug canals, erected fine 
buildings, multiplied the c/wiampas, and trained soldiers, 
using so much vigilance and energy that the Tlatelolcos 
were left behind in the march of improvement. Eventually, 
as the marshes between the two cities were filled up, they 
were only separated by a canal, and the rival factions were 
united into the more powerful government of Mexico. 

In 1402 the Mexicans celebrated the closing of one of 
their cycles, or centuries, with greater magnificence than 
any since they had left their homes in Aztlan. Their 
prosperity was assured, their position unshaken. 

Ixtlilxochitl, son of Techotl, succeeded his father upon 
the throne of Tezcoco. At his inauguration, all the princes 
or petty kings of his dominion were ordered to assemble at 
the capital to witness the ceremony and acknowledge him 
emperor. The King of Azcapozalco was ambitious to be 
at the head of affairs in Anahuac, and absented himself 
from the court at the time when he should have been pres- 
ent. He stirred up a rebellion that involved many of the 
lords of the valley, and finally Ixtlilxochitl marched upon 
him with the royal army. After three years of fighting, 
Tezozomoc, the King of Azcapozalco, sued for peace, and 
the Tezcocan army was withdrawn from his territories. 
But this was an artifice, and as soon as Ixtlilxochitl had 
disbanded his army, he found himself in great danger from 
his cunning foe, who pursued him even to the mountains, 
where he was finally murdered, or died in misery. 

[A. D. 1410.] The year previous, Huitzilihuitl, King of 
Mexico, had died, and his brother, Chimalpopoca, was ap- 
pointed king. It seems to have been established as a law 
at that time, that on the decease of a king one of his 
brothers should be appointed to the throne, or, if he had 
no brothers, one of his grandsons. The tyrant, Tezozomoc, 
was now ruler of Anahuac, having, at the death of Ixtlilxo- 



Tezozomoc, the Usurper. 69 

chitl, swept the valley with his armies. He gave Tezcoco 
to Chimalpopoca to be lord over, and another city, Huex- 
otla, to Tlacatcotl, King of Tlatelolco, as rewards for their 
assistance. 

Azcapozalco was proclaimed as the royal capital and the 
seat of power, with Tezozomoc as emperor. As mistress 
of the valley, Tezcoco had fallen from her high position ; 
the Chichimec dynasty was no longer to control the Mexi- 
can world, though in a few years the ancient capital was to 
revive its glory by becoming the centre of art and culture. 
The legitimate heir to the crown, Nezahualcoyotl^ son of 
Ixtlilxochitl, was now a fugitive, with a price set upon his 
head by Tezozomoc the usurper. 

For nine years, the tyrant held the throne of Tezcoco, 
with. his capital at Azcapozalco. He was now very old, 
and approaching his end ; not having within him sufficient 
vitality to keep him warm he was kept wrapped in cotton, in 
a great willow basket like a cradle. His hatred of the 
Tezcocan prince continued to his last breath, and as he 
had not been able to put him to death, he charged this 
unpleasant duty upon his sons, his successors to the king- 
dom. He was greatly troubled by hideous dreams, in all 
of which figured Nezahualcoyotl, the young prince he had 
driven from his home. He dreamed that this foe was at 
one time changed into an eagle, and in this shape tore open 
his breast and ate his heart ; at another, in the form of a 
lion, he licked his body and sucked his blood. 

[A. D. 1422.] Tormented with fears for the future of 
his kingdom and for his own miserable life, Tezozomoc 
expired, in the year 1422. The kings of Mexico were in 
attendance as mourners at his funeral, as also was the 
Prince of Tezcoco, whom the sons of Tezozomoc wished to 
kill, but dared not from fear of the people. 

Chimalpopoca, King of Mexico, lost his throne and his 



70 Mexico, 

life at this time under peculiar circumstances. Tezozomoc 
had left the kingdom to his son Tajatzin^ but another son, 
Maxtla, took possession of it. Tajatzin complained of 
this injustice to Chimalpopoca, and was advised by the 
Mexican king to kill his brother at an entertainment which 
he should prepare. This Maxtla heard of, and acted so 
promptly that he not only killed Tajatzin, but succeeded 
finally in making captive Chimalpopoca himself. 

When the King of Mexico sent his annual tribute to 
Azcapozalco, consisting of fish, cray-fish and frogs, accom- 
panied by a polite message to the king as lord of the val- 
ley, Maxtla showed his contempt for him by sending back 
by the embassadors a woman's gown, thereby implying that 
the Mexican king was a coward. After this insult, which 
Chimalpopoca was unable to avenge, Maxtla succeeded in 
getting a favorite wife of his enemy into his power, and 
after doing her all the injury he was capable of, he sent 
her back to her husband in tears and misery. 

Chimalpopoca resolved, as he could not take revenge on 
the tyrant, to sacrifice hi772self as an offering to his god, 
Huitzilopochtli. This, in his opinion, and in the eyes of 
his people, would wipe out the insult, to him as a king, and 
to the nation he ruled over. Dressed in the garb of sacri- 
fice, the unfortunate king was led to the temple, where the 
priests stood ready to plunge into his breast the knife of 
flint, and to tear out his troubled heart and offer it to their 
god. But the tyrant anticipated this event and despatched 
troops to the temple, who seized Chimalpopoca and hurried 
him to Azcapozalco, where they confined him in a strong 
wooden cage. Here he was visited by the fugitive Prince 
of Tezcoco, to whom he related his woes, and besought 
him to remember his poor people, the Mexicans, if he 
should succeed in gaining again the ancient throne of 
Acolhua. Then, giving him a golden pendant from his 



End of Chimalpopoca. 



71 



upper lip, and his ear-rings, which had once been worn by 
his famous brother, Huitzilihuitl, he charged him to escape 
at once from the dominions of Maxtla. 

[A. D. 1423.] That night, the unhappy king ended his 




MEXICAN PRIEST. 



life by hanging himself in his cage by his girdle ; and thus 
perished Chimalpopoca, third king of Mexico, in or about 
the year 1423. 

His reign had lasted about thirteen years, during which 



72 Mexico. 

he had gained some victories over his enemies, and had, in 
the eleventh year, brought into his capital two great stones 
of sacrifice, one for ordinary prisoners, and one for gladia- 
torial combats. 

The Mexicans lost no time in electing another king, who 
should be better qualified to cope with the tyrant ; and this 
time they chose the brave Itzcoatl, a man of war from his 
youth, who had commanded the Mexican armies for thirty 
years. 

In the meantime, Nezahualcoyotl, Prince of Tezcoco, had 
fled from Azcapozalco, by crossing the lake in a canoe with 
strong rowers. The tyrant organized a swift pursuit, but 
the prince succeeded in escaping his enemies, and in visit- 
ing all the important tribes in the valley, even penetrating 
to the province of Tlascala. Nearly all had become dis- 
gusted with the usurper, Maxtla, and promised aid to the 
prince in a great revolt against him. Aided by these allies 
he soon captured Tezcoco and several other cities once 
belonging to the ancient kingdom. 

The King of Mexico, Itzcoatl, sent an embassador to 
congratulate him on these victories, and to assure him of 
the assistance of the Mexicans at the time when the final 
assault should be made on Azcapozalco. 

This mission was an extremely difficult undertaking, for, 
though Tezcoco and Mexico were only fifteen miles apart, 
the roads and the lake were closely guarded by the tyrant to 
prevent communication between his foes. It was entrusted 
to the bravest man in all Mexico, a son of the former king, 
Huitzilihuitl, called Montezuma, who, by his invincible cour- 
age, had obtained the name of Ilhui-camina, or " Archer of 
Heaven." He succeeded in delivering his message, but 
in returning was captured by the troops of Toteotzin, lord of 
Chalco, and condemned to death. Through the humanity 
of his jailer he was allowed to escape, and returned to 
Mexico where he was received with great rejoicings. 



The First Montezuma. 73 

[A. D. 1425.] The populace of Mexico were terrified at 
the prospect of a war with the tyrant, Maxtla, and tried to 
dissuade their king from such a desperate measure. It is 
related that finally they entered into a compact by which, 
if victory crowned their efforts, the common people were 
to be forever the slaves of the nobility, but if defeat, then 
the latter were to be sacrificed at their pleasure. This was 
the origin of the condition of things that prevailed at the 
coming of the Europeans, a century later, when the rich 
and powerful nobility dominated over a servile, degraded 
people. 

A declaration of war was sent to King Maxtla, and again 
no one could be found to undertake this dangerous mission 
but Montezuma. It was only four miles from capital to 
capital, but nearly all the way through the enemy's lines. 
On his return, having reached a position of safety, he 
taunted the guards of the tyrant with negligence in having 
allowed him to escape, and boasted that he would soon 
return and destroy them all. They rushed upon him to kill 
him, but he slew two of them, and then retreated rapidly 
to Mexico, conveying to the trembling inhabitants the 
declaration of war. 

There is no more brilliant figure in Mexican history than 
this dauntless Indian, the first and the greatest Montezuma, 
risking his life in the cause of his people. Word was at 
once sent to Nezahualcoyotl to join his troops with the 
Mexicans, and the next day the Tepanec army — King 
Maxtla's — appeared in the field, adorned with gold and 
feathers, and shouting in anticipation of victory. 

Knowing that upon their bravery the fate of their respec- 
tive nations depended, each army attacked the other with 
terrible fury. King Itzcoatl led the Mexicans, having a 
little drum on his shoulder, by the sound of which he gave 
them signals for attack. At the close of a long day's fight- 



74 Mexico > 

ing the Mexicans were about to give way, and had already 
promised the Tepanecs to sacrifice their nobles and gen- 
erals to appease their wrath, when Montezuma rushed upon 
the opposite leader, and by a furious blow laid him lifeless 
on the field. This turned the tide of battle, and the Te- 
panecs fled to their city, pursued by the Mexicans and 
Tezcocans. The next day the battle v/as renewed, the city 
was taken, and the Tepanecs dispersed in every directioH. 
King Maxtla was found hidden in a temazcalli, or vapor 
bath, and killed, and his body cast into the fields. By this 
victory, which occurred in the year 1425, just one century 
after the foundation of Mexico — Tenochtitlan — the Mexi- 
cans obtained the ascendency in Anahuac ; thenceforward 
they were its actual masters. Azcapozalco, the Tepanec 
capital, was razed to the ground, and in the future was used 
as a market-place for slaves. 

The King of Mexico held the people to their contract, 
by which they had agreed to cultivate the lands for the 
generals and nobles, to build their houses, and to carry 
for them their anns and baggage when they went to war ; 
they were virtually their slaves. After the victory, the 
united armies marched around the valley, subdued all 
disaffected and rebellious tribes, and ended by entering 
Tezcoco, and placing Nezahualcoyotl upon the throne of 
his ancestors, from which he had been debarred by Tezo- 
zomoc and Maxtla for fifteen years. With this act was 
completed the restoration of the Chichimec monarchy, 
although its dominion was restricted, whereas before it was 
unlimited. The balance of power was held by the Mexi- 
cans, over whom reigned Itzcoatl. 

It must have been a great temptation to the Mexican 
king to make himself Emperor of Anahuac, and prevent 
his ally from ascending the throne of Tezcoco, when he 
had it so fully in his power. Instead of this he showed 



Peace in Anahuac, 75 

himself a monarch truly great, by considering the general 
welfare and the claims of others before his own aggran- 
dizement. He divided • the territory of Anahuac into 
three kingdoms, placing a surviving son of Tezozomoc 
over the Tepanecs, with his capital at Tacuha. Nezahual- 
coyoti's capital was Tezcoco, east of the great lake ; while 
Mexico, ruled over by Itzcoatl, lay between the two, — 
mistress of the valley and arbiter of its destinies. The 
many feudatories, or petty lordships, were placed either 
under the control of one or the other of the three, and 
peace for awhile reigned again in Anahuac. This triple 
alliance took place in the year 1426, or, according to some 
authorities, in 1431. 



76 Mexico, 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE TRIPLE KINGDOM. 

[A. D. 1426.] Though the small kingdom of Tacuba 
formed one of the allied powers, it took very little part in 
the fciture conquests, except to lend its aid to one or the 
other of its powerful neighbors, and take its small portion 
of the spoils. Mexico, under Itzcoatl, and with her armies 
commanded by the brave Montezuma, extended her con- 
quests in all directions. The monarch of Tezcoco had 
evidently had enough of war and bloodshed ; in his years 
of wanderings, in the many skirmishes and fights in which 
he had passed his youth, he had gained the true knowledge 
that the victories of peace are to be preferred over those 
of war. 

The unsettled condition in which the Acolhua kino:dom 
had been left by twenty years of misrule rendered it neces- 
sary for its sovereign to give it all his attention. He estab- 
lished councils, civil and military, for the trial of persons 
charged with crime ; he formed schools for the study of 
poetry, astronomy, music, painting, and history, as well as 
of the art of divination. These arts were in a very rude 
state, and little, of course, could result from their study, 
without the art of writing, or printing, to convey ideas. 
He divided the city of Tezcoco into over thirty districts ; 
in one dwelt the goldsmiths, in the other the sculptors, in 
another the weavers, and so on. He built temples and 
great houses, and planted groves, some of which are in 
existence at the present day. 



Reign of Nezahual^oyotl. 77 

[A. D. 1436.] Nezahualcoyotl, as we have seen, left to 
his cousin, the King of Mexico, the subjecting of other 
tribes, and seems to have felt no distrust or envy of the 
growing power of the Mexicans. And it is worthy of 
notice that, while the names of his contemporaries have 
hardly survived the bloody kingdom they fought so hard 
to aggrandize, that of the King of Tezcoco has come down 
to us the subject of many eulogies by the native historians. 
When we come to the year of his death, we shall mention 
more in detail the glories of his reign. 

Let us turn our attention to that growing capital of the 
Mexicans, which seemed ambitious to reach its arms from 
sea to sea. The fierce followers of Itzcoatl took the lead- 
ing part in every contest in which the allied armies were 
engaged ; " they became practically masters of the 'whole 
country, and were on the point of subjugating even their 
allies, or of falling before a combination of their foes, when 
they fell before a foe from across the sea." 

During the reign of Itzcoatl a difference arose between 
him and the Tezcocan monarch as to who was best entitled 
to the great title of Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, or chief of the 
Chichimec empire. As one who occupied the ancient 
Chichimec throne, Nezahualcoyotl was deemed to have 
the best claim to this honor, though by the aid of Mexican 
troops and the courtesy of their king, he had been re- 
established in his position. " Yet," says one writer, " al- 
though Itzcoatl and his successors by their valor and desire 
of conquest took a leading part in all wars, and were in a 
sense masters of Anahuac, there is no sufficient evidence 
that they ever claimed any superiority in rank over the 
Acolhua (Tezcocan) monarch, or that any important diffi- 
culties occurred between the two powers until the last years 
of the Aztec period." 

Itzcoatl died in the year 1436, having commanded the 



78 Mexico. 

armies for thirty years, and served thirteen as king. Mori- 
tezu'riia Ilhuicamina was naturally the choice of the electors 
for the crown, and once again a valiant leader of the Mexi- 
can armies w^as called to the throne. According to the 
horrid custom, which had now become fixed, Montezuma 
sallied forth to secure prisoners, to be sacrificed at his 
coronation. There resided about Lake Chalco, which you 
may see in a map of the Valley of Mexico, the nation of 
the same name, the Chalcas, or the Chalchese. Their 
ancient capital yet exists on the border of the lake, though 
only as a modern Mexican town of no great importance. 
They were the people who had captured Montezuma, 
during the reign of Maxtla, when he, a young man then, 
had gone to them in the character of embassador. He 
had never forgotten that they had intended to put him to 
death, and now he entered their territory to make horrible 
reprisals. He marched against them in person, took many 
prisoners, and then went back to Mexico and gave them to 
the priests to be sacrificed upon the altars. 

[A. D. 1440.] From the allied kings and from the tribes 
that paid them tribute he received a vast amount of treasure, 
gifts of gold, silver, and feathers, game and provisions. 
The coronation ceremonies lasted many days, and abounded 
in all the barbarous pastimes indulged in by those people. 
He constructed a new temple, in addition to two others his 
predecessor had built, and in 1441 the relics of an ancient 
chief, Mixcohuatl, a. Toltec who had been much venerated 
in centuries past, were taken to Mexico, where a temple 
was built for them. It seems to have been during Monte- 
zuma's reign that the custom originated of taking all the 
gods captured in battle from their enemies and depositing 
them in Mexico. There they were allowed to remain, lion- 
ored alike by friend and foe, but, like their former owners, 
subordinate to the great HuitzilopochtlL 



Punishment of the Chalchese. 79 

[A.D. 1443.] The Chalcas, who were always committing 
some mitoward deed, — or who were said to by the Mex- 
icans, in order that they might have a pretext for sacrific- 
ing them, — captured two sons of Nezahualcoyotl and 
killed them. The lord of that city was thought to be the 
same Toteotzin who had meditated the killing of Monte- 
zuma, years before. He ordered these royal princes to be 
killed, and then had their bodies embalmed and placed 
them in his banquet hall as torch-bearers, — holding in 
their black and shrivelled hands the pine torches that gave 
their light. The King of Tezcoco called upon his royal 
brother for aid, and the Mexicans gladly responded, for 
they were ever like tigers famishing for blood. They 
sacked and ruined the city, killed the ruler and drove the 
survivors to the mountains. 

Sometime about this period King Nezahualcoyotl was 
married to the daughter of the King of Tacuba, who 
rejoiced in a name almost as long as her royal lover's, — 
Matlalcihuatzin — said to be a beautiful and modest 
' virgin. It was more than this old reprobate deserved, 
for he had already many children by various concubines, 
the total number at his death being one hundred. He 
manifested great affection for them, but at the same time 
always put to death any of them that disobeyed him with 
an alacrity that makes one think he considered them alto- 
gether too many. 

But he made a great rejoicing at the time he was legiti- 
mately married, the entertainments lasting eighty days. And 
he composed a poem, comparing the sho/tness of life and 
its pleasures with the fleeting bloom of a flower. This was 
sung by his musicians, and proved so affecting that there 
was hardly a dry eye in the crowd. It commenced : 
Xochitl mamani in ahuehuetitlan^ and went on in this pa- 
thetic strain, drawing tears from the eyes of hardened old 



8o Mexico. 

Aztecs who had looked upon the tortures of thousands of 
victims upon the sacrificial block unmoved. A year later 
a son was born, JVezahualpilli, who succeeded in due time 
to the crown. 

Elated at the continued success of their arms, the 
Mexicans ravaged province after province and sent home 
crowds of prisoners to be murdered on their sacrificial 
altars. Under Montezuma, they carried their victories to 
points one hundred and fifty miles distant ; they enlarged 
their temple to their principal god, and enriched it with 
spoils. 

[A. D. 1446] — Mexico, you will remember, was built 
upon an island in Lake Tezcoco. There are five great 
lakes in the Mexican valley, four of them are fresh and 
the fifth, Tezcoco, is salt. All the other lakes are at a 
higher elevation than the salt lake, and three of them 
higher than the city itself, even at the present day. And 
so it happens, that whenever a great rain occurs, and the 
higher lakes are flooded, the waters rush down into Lake 
Tezcoco, which has no outlet, and are liable to overflow 
the city. The first of these inundations of which we have 
any mention occurred in the year 1446. Montezuma and 
the Mexicans were greatly distressed by this great flood, 
which rose so high that all the streets were filled and the 
people compelled to go about in canoes. The king 
consulted with Nezahualcoyotl and by the advice of this 
sagacious monarch he commenced a great dike, to cross 
the lake, and render it independent of the floods from the 
fresh-water lakes. It was nine miles in length and con- 
sisted of a double row of piles thirty feet apart, with the 
space between filled with earth and stones. The lords of 
the valley themselves labored, to incite the vassals to 
activity, and this mighty work was soon finished. 

[A. D. 1448.] In the years 1448 and 1449 there was a 



A Great Famine. 8i 

great famine, first from the inundation and then from frost, 
so that the corn crop, the maize upon which they almost 
solely depended for food, was a failure. The two following 
years were likewise unfavorable, and in the year 1452 many 
people of Mexico died of starvation. Many others wan- 
dered into the neighboring county and sold themselves into 
slavery for a little corn, their needs were so great, even 
though the royal granaries were opened. The king pub- 
hshed a proclamation, that no woman should sell herself 
as a slave for less than four hundred ears of maize, and 
no man for less than five hundred. As in the olden time, 
before Mexico was founded, the Aztecs now lived upon 
water-fowl, small fish and insects, which they caught in 
and about the lake. There is a peculiar water insect 
called the axayacatl, which lays its eggs on the water, among 
the rushes of Lake Tezcoco. Their eggs, when gathered 
and pressed together, form a substance like cheese, and 
this the inhabitants of Mexico subsisted upon, even as 
many of their descendants do at the present time. 

[A. D. 1454.] Even the famine, which lasted nearly six 
years, did not interrupt the dreadful sacrifices. The priests 
gave out that the gods were angry, and more blood must 
be shed to appease them. You will perhaps hardly credit 
the story, but it is related that in order to gratify the priests 
and to cause their gods to relent, some tribes entered into 
a compact to regularly fight one another, that the victors 
might have prisoners to sacrifice to these bloodthirsty 
deities. Half-starved men and women might have been 
obtained in every town, but the gods were not satisfied with 
their blood, they wanted the rich life-current of brave and 
stalwart soldiers ! 

[A. D. 1455.] At last the famine ceased, and plenty 
once more came to the stricken land, just as a new cycle 
entered upon its rounds. This they attributed to their 



82 Mexico. 

having finally appeased the outraged gods, just as the 
Mexicans, two centuries later, thought to stay the progress 
of an inundation by bringing into the city an image of the 
Virgin of Guadalupe. These people, the Mexicans, al- 
ways had blood in their eyes, and no sooner was the famine 
allayed than they again marched into the surrounding 
country in search of victims. 

[A. D. 1456.] That portion of the capital known as 
Tlatelolco had become the commercial metropolis of the 
country. To it people resorted from the remotest parts 
of Mexico, and from it went out large bands of travelling 
merchants. These merchants had so increased in number 
and strength, and always went so strongly armed, that they 
were very oppressive to the tribes they went amongst, and 
often committed murders and robberies. They also acted 
for the Mexicans in the capacity of spies; many a rich 
province had they entered, in the guise of peaceful traders, 
only to spy out its resources in wealth and prisoners. A 
band of these land pirates had been maltreated by the 
Miztecs, people who dwelt — as do their descendants to- 
day — in the country south of the Mexican valley. No doubt 
these rascally traders had deserved all they got, but they 
came back to their homes with such a doleful story that 
Montezuma resolved at once to punish the Miztecs for 
the outrage. He was only too glad of a pretext against 
them, for the supply of victims for that hideous god in the 
temple was running short. So he sent to the King of the 
Miztecs demanding an apolog\\ But Atonaltzm, this Miz- 
tec king, treated the embassadors of Montezuma with scorn. 
He loaded them with gold, and said, as he dismissed them, 
" Bear this present to your king, that he may know from it 
how much my subjects give me, and how much they love 
me ; tell him that I willingly accept of war, by which it 
shall be decided whether my subjects shall pay tribute to 



Defeat of the Miztecs, 83 

the King of Mexico or the Mexicans to me." Then the 
alUed kings united their armies, and marched rpon the 
£ing of the Miztecs ; but they got terribly wliipped, and 
for once returned to Mexico without their prisoners. Tliis 
enraged the great Montezuma, so that he raised another 
army, and led it in person ; and as in the past, so it was at 
this time, nothing could stand before him. The Miztecs 
were defeated, and he took possession of their capital. 

[A. D, 1457.] In this year an expedition was undertaken 
by the Mexicans against a nation in the south-east, to- 
wards the Gulf of Mexico. After the army had started 
Montezuma, hearing the forces of the army were far in 
excess of his own, sent to recall them. The Mexicans 
would have returned, but Moqicihitix, King of the Tlalte- 
lolcans, declared that he would go on, and with his own 
people alone vanquish the enemy. Animated by his words 
and example they encountered the enemy, and carried back 
over six thousand prisoners, to be sacrificed at the conse- 
cration of a temple for the preservation of skulls. 

Montezuma rewarded this victorious prince by giving 
him one of his cousins for his wife, — of which great honor 
he could not have been duly sensible, for he afterwards 
abused her heartily. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE CHALCHESE. 

[A. D. 1458.] By this time those rebellious people of 
Chalco had recovered sufficiently to again defy the Mexi- 
cans. They captured a brother of Montezuma, and wanted 
to make him king over them, and make their city a rival 
to that of Mexico. This he looked upon as treason ; but 
he finally pretended to consent, and told them to plant one 
of their tallest trees in the market-place and erect a scaffold 
upon it, in order that he might view his new subjects from 
this high position. When this was done he mounted to the 



84 Mexico. 

dizzy height, with a bunch of flowers in his hand, and made 
a speech to the few Mexicans who had been made prisoners 
with him : "Ye know well," he said, "my brave Mexicans, 
that the Chalchese wish to make me their king ; but it is 
not agreeable to our god that I should betray our native 
country. I choose rather to teach you by my example to 
place a higher value on fidelity to it than upon life itself." 
Saying this, he cast himself headlong to the ground and 
perished. By this act the Chalchese were so enraged that 
they slew all the Mexicans with darts. It is said that the 
dismal hooting of an owl that night threw them into super- 
stitious terror as an omen of their destruction. Nor were 
they far wrong, for as soon as Montezuma heard the news, 
he caused the hill-tops about Chalco to blaze with signal 
fires ; and ere they had died away he marched upon the 
rebels with his army. This time he left nothing of their 
city, nor saved man, woman or child that his enraged 
troops could discover in it. Again were the Chalchese 
driven to the mountains, there to wander for many years, 
living in holes and caverns. 

[A. D. 1460.] Tenochtitlan, or Mexico, and Tlaltelolco, 
into which the capital had been originally divided, had now 
so extended themselves on every side that only a single 
canal now separated them. This was widened and deep- 
ened, and made into a navigable water-way, through 
which passed the boats laden with vegetables from the 
Chinainpas. 

[A. D. 1474.] After having seen the Mexican dominion 
widely extended, north, east, south, and west, — after hav- 
ing erected a great temple to the god of war, and having 
shed the blood of thousands upon its altars, the great and 
glorious Montezuma died. He had been one of the wisest 
and bravest of the Mexican leaders, had made many civil 
and religious laws, had increased the splendor of his court. 




MEXICAN ARMOR, SHIELDS AND SWORD. 



Tehuantepec Invaded. 87 

and had added largely to that dread band of fanatics, the 
priests, who were engaged in hurrying this empire to its 
ruin. 

The fifth King of Mexico, successor to Montezuma, was 
Axajacatl, a valiant general of the army. Having received 
news of his election he marched into the south upon the 
terrible mission of securing prisoners to grace by their 
sacrifice his coronation. In this expedition his troops 
penetrated as far south as Tehuantepec^ many miles from 
the capital. Tehuantepec is the narrowest portion of Mex- 
ican territory, only about a hundred miles here intervening 
between the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and those of the 
Pacific. To-day, in our time, it is about to be opened by a 
railroad, and it has often been examined with reference to 
the cutting there of a ship canal, which may form a great 
highway between the seas of the two hemispheres. 

The Mexican general defeated the inhabitants of Te- 
huantepec, after hard-fought battles, and dragged the 
wretched prisoners over all the long distance to Mexico, 
to mingle their blood with that of the thousands who had 
preceded them. 

[A. D. 1466]. It is told that in this year, the famous 
causeway and aqueduct to Chapultepec was completed. 
It had been planned by Nezahualcoyotl and commenced by 
Itzcoatl. It supplied the Mexican capital with water, as 
that surrounding the city was salt and unfit to drink. 

All the time, the people were working hard at the build- 
ing of new temples, and many teocallis, or holy pyramids 
were built in the three allied capitals. The most noted 
one outside of Mexico was that constructed by Nezahual- 
coyotl, highly ornamented with gold and precious stones, 
and dedicated to the ^^ invisible god of the universe''^ — not 
to an idol of stone. 

[A. D. 1469]. The slumbering jealousy between the 



S8 Mexico. 

rival portions of the city — Tenochtitlan and Tlaltelolco — 
was finally carried into an open quarrel by the erection, by 
each faction, of a new temple. It was on the occasion of 
their return from a victory over another tribe. Each 
erected a temple for the reception of the gods of the van- 
quished nation which they had brought with them. That 
of the Tlaltelolcans, called Coaxolotl, was finer than that of 
the Mexicans, called Coatla7i, and this made much ill- 
feeling. Three or four years later, Moquihuix, the fiery 
king of the Tlaltelolcos, could endure no longer the con- 
stant increase in power of his near neighbor, Tenochtitlan, 
and planned a rebellion. His wife, sister to the now reign- 
ing king, Axajacatl^ fled to her brother, complaining of her 
ill-treatment and betraying the plans of her husband. Mo- 
quihuix secretly assembled his soldiers, and, in order to 
infuse into them the highest degree of courage, made them 
drink of the blood of their enemies, washed from the 
filthy surface of the sacrificial stone. Then he and his 
officers made a solemn sacrifice on a mountain near the 
city, to gain the favor of their gods. It was all in vain, 
however, for the Mexicans prevailed over their neighbors 
and brethren, in the bloody battle that ensued, and Moqui- 
huix was cast down from the tower of the temple, from 
which he was directing his troops, and slain. 

[A. D. 1473]. In this manner, the Mexicans finally be- 
came possessors of the entire city, in about the year 1473. 
The Tlaltelolcans were driven into the marshes, and only 
restored to their privileges after having been made to 
croak like frogs, in token of submission. 



Nezahualcbytlj King of Tezcoco. 89 



CHAPTER VII. 

NEZAHUALCOYOTL, KING OF TEZCOCO. 

[A. D. 1470]. In this year departed the greatest hero 
of that ancient Indian history, Nezahualcoyotl, King of 
Tezcoco. Son of a king who was murdered by the tyrant 
Tezozomoc, his youth was passed in constant peril from 
the designs that tyrant and his son entertained against his 
Hfe. Possessed of extraordinary courage and endurance, 
he had always kept in view the exalted station it was his 
right to occupy, never for a moment faltering until he was 
at last seated upon the throne of Tezcoco. Then, instead 
of devoting himself to murdering and plundering his 
neighbors, like his cousins, the Mexicans, he gave all his 
energies to promote the growth and welfare of his king- 
dom. It needed a man of his character and ability to 
knit together its dismembered provinces, and firmly grasp 
the helm that guided it on its. course. On rejecting the 
bloody and barbarous creed of the Mexicans, refusing to 
worship God through the sacrifice of his fellow-men, he 
showed himself to be a long way in advance of those 
people. By erecting to that God a temple, dedicated to 
the "unknown god of causes," he humbly acknowledged 
his inability to comprehend Him ; nor was he presump- 
tuous enough to believe that any man on earth had ever 
been appointed His especial agent. In this respect he 
ranked even in advance of the Spanish priests, who con- 
verted the Indians from a worship of their deities by main 
force, and caused to be exterminated those whom they 



90 



Mexico, 



could not convert. He was tolerant in religion, thus 
showing a spirit almost five hundred years in advance of 
his time. He instituted tribunals, and ordered that no 
lawsuit should be prolonged over eighty days; at the 
expiration of that time a general assembly met in the 
palace, and all cases pending were at once decided upon. 
This shows that he had a hatred of those vultures of 
the law that prey upon society. The unsettled state of 





ARMOR AND SHIELD. 



his kingdom called for severe laws ; it makes one shudder 
to read of the penalties he caused to be inflicted : deaths 
for drunkenness, for treason to the state, for taking any- 
thing from another's field, — even the taking of seven 
ears of corn was enough to incur the penalty. But to 
provide for travellers passing through his kingdom, he 
caused the highways to be sown with corn, which was free 
to all. Another instance of his wisdom and foresight was 
the preservation of his forests. He fixed limits to their 



The Council of Music, 



91 



destruction, establishing boundaries beyond which no one 
was allowed to cut. Wishing one day to see if the law 
was observed, he went out in disguise, into the forest. 
He found a poor boy on the edge of the wood carefully 
gathering up a few chips some one had left. The king 
asked him why he did not go into the wood, where there 
was plenty. 

" Because," answered the boy, " the king has forbidden 





ARMOR. 



it." His family was in great want, but though the dis- 
guised king urged him to break the law, he remained firm, 
preferring to suffer from want rather than to incur the 
penalty. Moved by this scene, the king is said to have 
enlarged the boundaries. 

Though without books or letters, he instituted acad- 
emies, where oratory, history, poetry, sculpture, and works 
in feathers, gold, and precious stones were greatly devel- 
oped. He was himself at the head of a council of music, 
with the kings of Mexico and Tacuba as associates. 



92 Mexico. 

Music and poetry, being capable of being transmitted by 
ear and mouth, have Uved longest. It is in his poems that 
this king shows his elevation of thought, and comes down 
to us as the exemplar of the progress of his nation on the 
road from savagery to civilization. 

Would you like to read one of these poems, composed 
five hundred years ago, before the so-called discovery of 
America ? The whole poem is too long for repetition here ; 
let a verse or two suffice. It is said that he composed 
sixty hymns in honor of the Creator of Heaven. In one of 
his poems he lamented the fall of the tyrant Tezozomoc, 
whom he compared to a "large and stately tree, which 
had extended its roots through many countries and spread 
the shade of its branches over all the empire ; but which 
at last, worm-eaten and wasted, fell to the earth, never to 
resume its youthful verdure." 

This poem commences in this way, — 

" O king, unstable and restless, when thou art dead then shall thy people be 
overthrown and confounded ; thy place shall be no more ; the Creator, the All- 
Powerful, shall reign.' ' 

And it ends with this delightful verse, — 

" Let the joyous birds sing on and rejoice in the beauty of spring, and the 
butterflies enjoy the honey and perfume of the flowers, for life is as a tender 
plant that is plucked and withers away." 



SONG OF THE KING OF TEZCOCO. 

ON THE MUTABILITY OF LIFE. 

" Now will I sing for a moment, 
Since time and occasion offer, 
And I trust to be heard with favor, 
If my effort proveth deserving ; 
Wherefore thus I begin my singing, 
Or rather my lamontation. 



The Poet King, 93 



Fair Acolhuacan thou hast chosen 

As thy dwelling-place and thy palace ; 

Thou hast set up thy royal throne there, 

With thy own hand hast thou enriched it ; 

Wherefore it seems to be certain 

That thy kingdom shall prosper and flourish. 

And thou, O wise Prince Oyoyotzin, 
Mighty monarch and king without equal, 
Rejoice in the beauty of spring-time, 
Be happy while spring abides with thee. 
For the day creepeth nearer and nearer 
When thou shalt seek joy and not find it. 

A day when dark Fate, the destroyer, 
Shall tear from thy hand the proud sceptre, 
When the moon of thy glory shall lessen. 
Thy pride and thy strength be diminished, 
The spoil from thy servants be taken, 
Thy kingdom and honor go from thee. 



In Mexico, proudest of cities, 

Reigned the mighty and brave Montezuma ; 

Nezahualcoyotl, the just one, 

Of blest Culhuacan was the monarch ; 

To strong Totoquil fell the portion 

Of Acatlapan, the third kingdom. 



I would that those living in friendship. 
Whom the thread of strong love doth encircle, 
Could see the sharp sword of the Death-god. 
For, verily, pleasure is fleeting, 
All sweetness must change in the future, 
The good things of life are inconstant." 

This song, with others of the Tezcocan King's produc- 
tions, were preserved in the memory of the "old ones," 
and "written in Aztec, after the Spanish conquest, when 
they were translated into Spanish by Ixtlilxochitl, a direct 
descendant of the royal poet." 

To this learned writer, Ixtlilxochitl, we owe these valu- 



94 Mexico, 

able remains of the monarch, and to the fact that he was 
his descendant, doubtless, is due the favorable picture that 
is drawn of this king. 

We are told that Nezahualcoyotl delighted in the study 
of nature, and became a fair astronomer by studying the 
heavens. Such plants and animals as he could not keep 
alive at his court he caused paintings to be made of, by 
skilled' native artists. These were seen by a learned Span- 
ish naturalist, after the Conquest, who declared they were 
true to the life. 

Mention has been made of the palaces and temples this 
king erected, one of the former being large enough to con- 
tain several thousand people, as we shall see when we come 
to speak of the Conquest. That temple which he built in 
honor of the unknov/n God, was a high tower, consisting 
of nine stories, the last one dark and with vaulted roof, 
painted blue within, and with cornices of gold. Plates of 
fine metal were hung here, which it was the duty of watch- 
men to strike at intervals, when the king w^ould fall on his 
knees in prayer. 

" The elevated genius of this king," says the historian* 
whose account we have been mainly following, " actuated 
by the great love he had to his people, produced so en- 
lightened a capital that in future times it was considered 
as the nursery of the arts and the centre of cultivation. 
Tezcoco was the city where the Mexican language was 
spoken in the greatest purity and perfection, where the 
best artists were found, and where poets, orators, and 
historians abounded. The Mexicans and many others 
adopted their laws ; and, if we may be allowed the applica- 
tion, Tezcoco was the Athens and Nezahualcoyotl the Solon 
of Anahuac." 

* The learned Jesuit, Clavigero. 



The Athens of Anahuac. 95 

Contrast this pleasing picture of this centre of culture 
and refinement with that of the city in the lake, Tenochtit- 
lan, hot with the lust for blood that poured in streams 
from its reeking altars. 

In many respects Nezahualcoyotl reminds us of King 
David, mentioned in the Bible ; he seems to have had sim- 
ilar talents to, as well as the vices of, that noted monarch. 
We may trace the likeness even to the similar manner in 
which each possessed himself of his wife, the mother of 
his favorite son. The Tezcocan King became enamored 
of the wife of Temictzin, a brave Tlaltelolcan general, and 
he sent him to the wars, instructing his generals to put him 
in the front ranks, and when he was surrounded by his 
enemies to retreat and leave him. This they did, and he 
was killed ; and after waiting awhile, for decency's sake, 
Nezahualcoyotl married the wife of the man he had mur- 
dered, and by her he had NezahualpilU, his only legitimate 
son and heir. 

The remains of some of the works of the departed 
emperor still exist, near Tezcoco, in the limits of the city 
that yet bears its name. A few miles distant from the 
ancient city are the ruins of Tezcosingo, the pleasure 
: "treat of Nezahualcoyotl and his son. There is there a 
reservoir hollowed from solid rock, near which is a stone 
bench or seat, and into which a pipe once conducted water 
from an aqueduct. This is called " Montezuma's Bath," 
though it undoubtedly was the work of the Tezcocan King. 
Near this is a great embankment, nearly two hundred feet 
high, on the top of which are pipes for conducting water. 
This aqueduct lies between and connects two hills, and all 
these remains are in a most charming, secluded vale, lying 
among the hills overlooking the vale of Tezcoco, the great 
lake, and the Aztec city. 

A visitor to Tezcoco may find many remains of the 



96 



Mexico. 



former greatness of this "Athens of Anahuac," if he 
search diUgently. The ruins of three great pyramids are 
still pointed out, and from one of them, no longer ago than 
last year (1881), was dug a large, sculptured slab, which 
was thought to be a portion of a Tezcocan calendar stone. 




MONTEZUMA'S BATH. 



Mexico in her Glory. 97 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MEXICO IN HER GLORY. 

[A. D. 1474.] AxAjACATL, the sixth king of Mexico,, 
was animated by the same desires for conquest as his 
predecessors. He invaded the kingdom of Michoacan, 
and subjected several provinces lying on its borders. 
He was repulsed with great slaughter of his troops from 
the capital of Michoacan, called Tzinfzuntzan, and in one 
of the engagements about this time was severely wounded. 
The fine valley of Toluca, and much other territory lying 
west of Mexico, was annexed to his kingdom ; and he 
had the pleasure of sacrificing a great number of, pris- 
oners, including the two brave captains who had caused 
him his wound. 

[A.D. 1477.] At last he died, just after his return one 
day from Chapultepec, where he had been for recreation. 
On the face of a cliff, that supports the present castle of 
Chapultepec, was carved an image of this monarch, and 
also one of that still greater warrior, Montezuma I. He 
had been out to examine these sculptures on the day of 
his death. The king was a great lover of the Aztec 
games, and especially that of ball-playing. He once com- 
pelled the lord of the Xochimilcas to engage with him in a 
contest of this kind, wagering the revenues of the city of 
Mexico for a year against the freedom of the Xochimilcas. 
He was beaten by his adversary ; but in order to avoid 
paying the forfeit he caused him to be strangled, by means 
of a wreath of flowers in which was hidden a noose. 



qS Mexico. 

[A. D. 1482.] Tizoc was the name of the seventh king 
of Mexico, a grave and serious man, who did not seem to 
be barbarous enough for his subjects, since he was mur- 
dered in 1482, after reigning but five years. He collected 
a vast amount of material for the building of a temple to 
their great war god, that should surpass all others, but 
died without carrying out his design. 

The son of the last king of Tezcoco was now about twenty 
years old, having been but eight at his father's death. He 
experienced much opposition from his brothers, when he had 
taken possession of the throne, who considered themselves 
entitled to some recognition. They were a great deal older 
than Nezahualpilli, and could not endure the thought of 
being reigned over by one so young. So they excited a 
rebellion. And here the meaner traits of Nezahualcoyotl 
showed themselves strongly in the son. Even as his father 
had caused the death of a brave captain, to gratify his 
lust, so did Nezahualpilli destroy one of his most valiant 
officers to save his own miserable life. The enemy had 
found out what armor the king would wear, and the rebel 
general had directed his men to seek out and capture or 
kill the wearer of this armor. Hearing this, Nezahualpilli 
made one of his officers change garments with hiin; and 
after that unfortunate soldier had been set upon and 
killed, and while his foes were chanting songs of victory, 
he came up with his men and utterly routed them. In the 
eyes of men, this may have seemed perfectly justifiable ; 
but in the sight of Him who considers all life sacred, and 
does not recognize the petty distinctions among men, it 
could not have been considered else than murder. If 
Nezahualcoyotl was the David of this history, his son, 
Nezahualpilli, was also the Solomon. Born, as w^as Solo- 
mon, of a woman whose husband his father had murdered, 
he seems to have striven to emulate him in the number of 
his wives. 



King Nezahualpilli. 99 

After the rebellion had been quelled he turned his at- 
tention to the building of a new palace, of granaries, and 
the laying-out of magnificent gardens. He caused to be 
enclosed by a great wall " exactly as much ground as was 
occupied by the rebels, when they came to the defence of 
their general, and gave the place the name of that day on 
which he had obtained the victory." Perhaps that noble 
grove of cypresses, called at this day '"'■ El Bosque del Con- 
tador^^'' — giant trees set out in double rows, and enclos- 
ing a great space, — is a monument to this very achieve- 
ment. 

Though the King of Tezcoco had many wives, he had 
no legitimate queen, and so he demanded and obtained 
a grand-daughter of King Tizoc. Now this lady had a 
beautiful sister whom she loved so much that she did 
not wish to be separated from her. And when Neza- 
hualpilli saw how lovely she was, he loved her also, and 
did not want to be separated from her. The easiest way 
to settle the difficulty, in his mind, was to marry them both, 
and this he did ; for one queen more or less mattered 
not to Nezahualpilli. His first queen was the mother of 
Cacamatzin, who succeeded his father to the throne ; the 
second was mother of three other sons, two of whom 
will figure conspicuously in the period of the Spanish Con- 
quest. We shall see then how the sins of these two mon- 
archs were visited upon their sons, and were instrumental 
in causing the destruction of their people. 

[A. D. i486.] The Mexicans had chosen Ahiiitzotl as 
their eighth king, at the death of Tizoc, brother of their two 
previous monarchs. For four years, this fiend devoted him- 
self to war and the accumulation of victims for a sacrifice 
without a parallel in history. At the end of this time the 
great temple was finished, from the material gathered by 
King Tizoc, and by the aid of an incredible number of 



lOO 



Mexico^ 



workmen. Such a temple was called by the Aztecs a 
TeocallV* — or holy pyramid. The first ones, constructed 
at different periods, had been of wood ; but this one fin- 




TEOCALLl. 



ished by King Ahuitzotl, in i486, was of stone — a great 
pyramid of earth faced with cut stone, one hundred and 
twenty feet high. Two altars were erected upon the 

* Teocalli, or Teopan, literally " House of God." 



The Great Sacrifice. lOl 

flat surface of the pyramid, the tops of their cupolas 
being one hundred and seventy feet above the pavement 
of the great square in which the temple was erected.* 
The pyramid was built in five stages, or stories, and steps 
led up to each in such a manner that the whole structure 
must be encircled before the ascent could be made from 
one to the other. 

When he had completed the temple, and had placed the 
god of war, the terrible Huitzilopochtli, in position in one 
of the adoratories on the summit, Ahuitzotl invited the two 
allied monarchs to be present at the dedication. He also 
extended invitations to all persons of distinction within the 
valley. Even people at war with the Mexicans came to 
witness the ceremonies, and were assigned seats where 
they could have an unobstructed view. This terrible feast 
of blood lasted four days, in which time were sacrificed 
all the prisoners they had made in the past four years. 
Were it not that all historians agree in estimating the num- 
ber sacrificed as enormous, we could not believe that human 
beings were capable of such a wholesale slaughter of un- 
armed men. Sixty thousaiid prisoners were sacrificed during 
the four days of this festival ! The demon who presided 
at the feast, in the person of King Ahuitzotl, commenced 
the work of blood with his own hands, and then the priests 
took it up, each" continuing the slaughter until he was 
exhausted, when his place was filled by another. Sixty 
thousand is the lowest number estimated, and some histo- 
rians say seventy thousand, were murdered on that day. 
All are agreed that the prisoners were arranged " in two 
long files, each a mile and a half in length, which began in 
the roads of Tacuba and Iztapalapan, and terminated at 
the temple, where, as soon as the victims arrived, they were 
sacrificed." 

* These are the dimensions given by Humboldt. 



10^ Mexico. 

It is said by some writers that six millions of people wit- 
nessed this ceremony. To all the principal personages 
Ahuitzotl gave rich presents, intending, no doubt, that this 
dedication of the great temple should live in the memory 
of the Indians forever. This cruel and vindictive monarch 
lived long after this, and the historian regrets that no signal 
calamity befel him or the nation to show the displeasure 
of the God whom they had thus offended by such a display 
of their hellish passions. Such a terrible reputation did 
this king create for himself that in Mexico, to this day, the 
people characterize a ferocious villain by his name : es tin 
Ahuitzotl, — " he is an Ahuitzotl." 

[A. D, 1496.] War succeeded war, for this destroyer of 
men was never satisfied. We are happy to chronicle 
reverses as well as victories in the invasions of the Mexi- 
cans. At one time they marched into the valley of the 
Atliscas, who, wholly unprepared, sent for a brave chief of 
the Hueotzincas, named Toltecatl, to assist them. Toltecatl 
was at a game of ball when the embassadors arrived asking 
assistance. He at once organized a band of troops, rushed 
upon the Mexicans, unarmed, slew the first one with his 
fist, and committed such slaughter that the invaders re- 
treated to their own valley. On account of his bravery 
his people made him chief of their republic, but he was 
subsequently driven out by the priests, who were plotting 
against law and order, and finally murdered, and his body 
sent to the Alexicans. 

In 1489, had died Chimalpopoca, King of Tacuba, who 
had succeeded the first king of that province of Tlacopan. 
This small kingdom had taken little part in the wars, 
except to furnish such troops as were required by her ally, 
and collect the tribute. 

[A. D. 1498.] The close of the fifteenth century found 
this atrocious villain, King Ahuitzotl, still in power. In 



Ahuitzotts Mistake. 



103 



1498, finding that Lake Tezcoco was growing shallow, he 
undertook to replenish it by diverting into it the waters of 
a spring in the mountains. The city of Cohoacan was 
already supplied by this spring, and the lord of that city 




was commanded to assist in conducting it to the city of 
Mexico. 

This lord represented to Ahuitzotl that the attempt 
would be dangerous to the safety of the city, as at times 
the fountain overflowed its banks, and if it were diverted 
into the valley in a stream it might cause great damage to 



104 Mexico. 

be done. At this, the tyrant, believing the lord of Cohoa- 
can had other motives for wishing to keep the water from 
him, ordered him to be murdered. A great aqueduct was 
constructed and the water finally received with rejoicing, 
the priests sacrificing birds and offering incense to the god 
of waters. That very year was the murdered lord avenged, 
for the waters rose so high as to inundate the city ; and 
King Ahuitzotl himself, being caught by the flood in one of 
the lower rooms of his palace, received such a blow on his 
head, in getting out, as caused his death a few years later. 
He was obliged to call upon the King of Tezcoco to aid 
him in arresting the flood ; the old dike was repaired, and 
the same priests that offered incense and sacrifices to the 
god of waters for the gift of the fountain, defiled the spring 
with their offerings in their vain attempts to make him take 
it back. 

As kings went, in that barbaric age, old King Ahuit- 
zotl was a very fair specimen of the whole. There was 
not one of them that we can recall that did not merit the 
punishment the Spaniards meted out to their descend- 
ants. Making every allowance for the ignorance of the 
age in which they lived, they were yet willfully, wofully 
perverse. They allowed themselves to be led by the 
priests, whose appetite for blood was never satisfied. And 
we shall see, that the nearer the rulers came to the priestly 
influence the more cruel they became. If 3^ou will look 
back through the vista afforded by this dark record, you 
will not fail to perceive how the priests had been prepar- 
ing a structure, composed of the bones and cemented 
by the blood of their victims, that was to fall upon and 
crush its builders out of existence ! Mexican progress 
began when Tenochtitlan was founded, in 1325 ; its glory 
culminated at the dedication of the temple, in 1486, during 
the reign of Ahuitzotl. 



Treaty with the Zapotecs. 107 

[A. D. 1500]. The Mexicans swept their armies south- 
ward, as far as Guatemala, nearly nine hundred miles 
distant. An Aztec army of 60,000 men cleared the coun- 
try of the Miztecs and Zapotecs as far as the sacred city 
of Mitla, where was the burial-place of the Zapotec kings, 
and sent its priests to be sacrificed on the altar of Mexico. 
There was one Zapotec king whom they could not defeat, 
Cocioyeza, who fortified a great plateau, defended by 
ravines and barrancas, and twice defeated the Mexican 
armies sent against him. The King of Mexico was glad to 
conclude a peace with him, and he also gave him one of 
the royal princesses in marriage. In fact, the Zapotecan 
king fell in love with this princess, a sister of Montezuma, 
before he saw her, for she appeared to him in a vision as he 
was taking his bath, -and after exhibiting to him a peculiar 
mark on her hand, disappeared, saying she would return 
when sent for. When he sent his officers to select a queen 
for him from the Mexican court, he instructed them to 
look for the beautiful princess with the peculiar mark in 
the palm of her hand. At the court, they noticed one of 
the beauteous damsels frequently raising her hand to ar- 
range her hair, so as to expose the palm of her hand. Of 
course, she was the one the Zapotec had seen in the vision, 
and, of course, they were married and lived happily 
together. King Montezuma, her brother, when he came 
to the throne, tried to persuade her to poison her husband, 
— after the fashion of that dark period, — but she refused, 
thinking, very wisely, that a royal spouse alive was worth 
more to her than one dead, and a royal brother into the 
bargain ! 

It is a pleasure, at last, to be able to chronicle the death 
of that wicked old monarch, Ahuitzotl, who departed, full 
of honors and much lamented, to his fathers. He left 



loS 



Mexico. 



Mexico a more magnificent city than when he found it. 
He had built temples and palaces, and had pushed her to 
the pinnacle of her power ; but he had also sown the seeds 
of distrust and terror that were to cause her to dissolve 
before her enemies like the mist about a mountain-top. 




MEXICAN URN. 



Last Years of the Mexican Empire. 109 



I 



CHAPTER IX. 

LAST YEARS OF THE MEXICAN EMPIRE. 

[A. D. 1502.] In the year 1490, in one of the expedi- 
tions to the Gulf coast, there came into prominence, through 
his display of valor, one of the royal princes named Monte- 
zuma. He was a son of the famous and terrible Axaja- 
catl, and had been in many campaigns, though his warlike 
father had died before he was old enough to accompany 
him far. By the law of the kingdom, the throne vacated 
by the death of Ahuitzotl should descend to one of the 
grandsons of the preceding king. The choice fell upon 
Montezuma, called Xocojotzin — to distinguish him from 
the great Montezuma who died in the year 1464. He was 
not a son of the first Montezuma, but of his brother, Axaja- 
catl, who had succeeded him to the throne. He had shown 
great bravery as a general, but of late had joined the priest- 
hood, preferring to sacrifice his victims on the altar of the 
war-god to slaying them in the heat of battle. 

When the news of his election reached him he was found 
sweeping the temple, to which occupation he returned, with 
great aftectation of humility, as soon as he had been con 
firmed in his exalted position. 

It is said that the great Nezahualpilli made a noted 
speech on the occasion of his coronation, congratulating 
him upon having such an empire to govern, and the people 
upon having such a king to preside over their destinies. 
But this address of Nezahualpilli (like those of men like 
him who have retired from business and spend their time 



no Mexico. 

in domineering over their wives) is too long for repetition. 
Montezuma II. — for this was now his title — was much 
affected by this speech ; but whatever good resolutions he 
may have formed did not prevent him from hurrying off to 
secure some wretched captives to be murdered at the sub- 
sequent ceremonies. 

A convenient quarrel was opened with a neighboring 
tribe, and a sufficient number of unfortunates dragged from 
their homes to be slaughtered on this occasion. The 
games, dances and illuminations were so varied, the value 
of the tributes paid by different provinces was so great, 
that visitors came from all over the country — even the 
fierce Tlascallans^ between whom and the Mexicans existed 
perpetual enmity. To all these were assigned choice seats, 
— as at the dedication of the temple, in i486, — and all 
departed greatly impressed with the magnificence of Mon- 
tezuma's court. The rejoicings of his subjects were, how- 
ever, of short duration, for the veil of humility was soon 
drawn aside, and Montezuma showed himself the proud, 
arrogant, and oppressive ruler that his subsequent acts 
proved him really to be. 

Disregarding the advice of his counselors, Montezuma 
pursued a course directly opposite tothat of his predeces- 
sors. They had been accustomed to bestow rewards for 
valor upon deserving men, without regard to rank or birth, 
and in this manner many plebeians had attained to high 
office. Montezuma degraded these officials, and surrounded 
himself only with the nobility. As had been predicted, 
this conduct soon alienated the hearts of the people ; 
though he made them fear him, they at the same time 
hated him. His attendants in the palace were all persons 
of rank ; several hundred noble young men especially 
waited upon him at dinner. Every morning, he gave 
audience to six hundred nobles and lords of tributary 




MONTEZUMA XOCOJOTZIN. 



Court of Montezuma, 113 

provinces, whose retinues were so numerous that they 
filled three small courts of the palace. All these rulers 
over distant dependencies were obliged to reside several 
months of each year at court, or leave some near relatives 
as hostages for their fidelity in case of absence. When 
they appeared before the king they wore only the coarsest 
garments, laying off their rich robes in an outer apartment. 
As they approached the king they made three bows, saying 
at the first, "lord," at the second, "my lord," and at the 
third, " great lord." They replied to his questions in a low 
tone and humble manner, and soon retreated from the 
room, always with their faces to the throne. 

In a future chapter we shall describe his palace and the 
state and ceremonies there, as observed by the Spanish 
conquerors on their arrival at the Aztec capital. Our 
object now is to inquire into the causes that contributed 
to the subsequent destruction of the empire, and to trace 
the succession of events up to the year 1520. 

This ninth King of Mexico, Montezuma, committed a 
fatal error in separating from him the common people, who 
constituted the mass of his fighting men, and surrounding 
himself only with persons of nobility and members of the 
priesthood. He was digging the ground from under his 
own feet; the glittering fabric he was rearing was top- 
heavy, and would have been precipitated to the ground of 
its own weight, even had not the Spaniards appeared to 
hasten its downfall ! He even carried his arrogance so far 
as to deprive the travelling merchants of all the privileges 
they had enjoyed under previous monarchs. Now, these 
travelling merchants, as we have seen in a previous chap- 
ter, were important aids in the extension of the Aztec 
dominion. They entered the country of an enemy, or one 
not subjected to Mexican rule, in the character of mer- 
chants, but really performed efficient work as spies. They 



1 14 Mexico, 

had almost invariably been advance couriers, who had pre- 
ceded the coming of an army of subjugation. Under one 
of the kings, a party of these merchants had been cut off 
in the country of the Miztecas, and there they seized a 
town and fortifications and held out for four years ^ until 
relieved by the approach of a Mexican army. 

All these valuable spies and skirmishers, who traversed 
the country at their own expense and added vastly to its 
material wealth, were degraded to the ranks of the ple- 
beians, without hope of elevation. His armies were con- 
stantly employed in quelling revolts, but they succeeded in 
adding little new territory. 

The arrogance and severity of Montezuma, while they 
disgusted his subjects and caused them to desire noth- 
ing so much as a change of government, were somewhat 
modified by his liberal spirit on great occasions and his 
generosity towards deserving officials. By keeping his 
subjects employed he smothered discontent, and by build' 
ing temples and keeping the altars smoking with sacrifice, 
he gained a reputation for devoutness and devotedness to 
their gods. 

[A. D. 1503.] Within sixty miles of the Mexican capital 
there existed the republic of Tlascala, small but warlike, a 
thorn in the side of the Aztecs, a perpetual menace to 
them. No one knows why this belligerent people had 
been allowed to exist so long near the centre of Mexican 
power, when — notwithstanding their bravery — the Aztecs 
could doubtless have crushed them by mere weight of 
numbers. Some have thought that they were allowed to 
remain there in order that the Mexican troops might have 
an enemy near to be exercised against, and a place whence 
they might draw victims for the altars without fatiguing 
marches to distant provinces. 

At all events, the brave little republic sat intrenched 



I 



A Tlascallan Hero. 117 

among the mountains of Tlascala, and had never been 
subjugated since the entrance of its people into the Mexi- 
can valley. Montezuma at last resolved to severely punish 
these people, if not to conquer them, and sent against 
them an army commanded by his son. This army was 
defeated, and his first-born and much-beloved was slain. 
A second army sent against the Tlascalans was also van- 
quished, and these victories the heroes celebrated with 
great rejoicings. 

There was in Tlascala a famous general called Tlahui- 
col, celebrated for his great strength and courage, and for 
his skill with the maquahuitl, or the Mexican sword, the 
one he carried being so heavy that an ordinary man could 
hardly lift it. By some mischance he got embedded in a 
marsh, and his enemies, who had hitherto fled in terror 
wherever he appeared, captured and placed him in a cage 
and sent him to Montezuma. 

The generous nature of the king impelled him to set the 
hero at liberty : but Tlahuicol refused to return to Tlascala 
after having suffered the disgrace of being taken a pris- 
oner, and demanded permission to die in honor of the god. 
Montezuma offered him the command of his armies, as 
general-in-chief, but the noble-minded Tlascallan refused, 
saying he would not be guilty of such treason to his coun- 
try. He, however, accepted a command of a body of 
troops against Michoacan, enemies to both nations, and 
acquitted himself so bravely that Montezuma renewed his 
offers of reward and liberty. This great man would accept 
neither, but steadily persisted in being allov/ed to die 
before the god. At last, after having dwelt with the Mexi- 
cans for three years, his request was granted. 

There were two kinds of sacrifice, one performed by the 
priests, in which the victim was stretched upon the convex 
surface of the great sacrificial stone, his hands and legs 



ii8 Mexico. 

held by four attendants, while the chief priest cut open the 
protruding breast and tore out the yet palpitating heart. 
This was offered to the god, either by being thrust between 
his lips in a golden spoon, or roasted on the coals before 
him, and the body was thrown down the steps of the great 
temple-pyramid to the people assembled below. This cere- 
mony took place on the summit of the great teocalli. 

The other mode of sacrifice was the gladiatorial. Near 
the middle of the vast square of the temple was a low, 
broad stone, upon which, tied by one foot to a ring in its 
centre, any prisoner who had gained a reputation for bravery 
was allowed to battle for his liberty. Should he vanquish 
six Aztec warriors in succession he was allowed to go free. 
Fettered in this way, the valiant Tlahuicol killed eight of 
Mexico's bravest warriors and wounded twenty, when, fall- 
ing senseless from a fearful blow on the head, he was taken 
before the idol, Huitzilopochtli, and his heart torn out, as 
a precious morsel for the god. 

[A. D. 1505.] Two years of famine reduced the people 
to such a condition that the king was obliged to throw open 
the royal granaries, and even to allow them to wander away 
into other countries to seek for food. In 1505, an expedition 
was undertaken to Guatemala, nearly nine hundred miles 
distant, and a temple was erected to the goddess Centiotl, 
— the goddess of Maize, — and consecrated by sacrifice of 
the prisoners taken in this year. A bad omen for them, at 
this time, was the burning of the turret of another temple, 
which was struck by lightning. The people of Tlaltelolco 
seeing the fire, and thinking an enemy had got possession, 
hurried into the Mexican portion of the city with arms in 
their hands. This act was construed by Montezuma as 
rebellious, and he deprived them of all offices and looked 
upon them distrustfully till his wrath was spent. 



The Four Ages of Earth. I2I 



THE FESTIVAL OF THE NEW FIRE. 

[A. D. 1506.] At the end of this year occurred the 
ceremonial of "tying up the cycle," or the festivities at- 
tending the close of one of their cycles and the beginning 
of another. You must know that the Mexicans divided 
the duration of the world into four ages. The first they 
called the age of water — Atonatiuh, or "first age of the 
sun," — which lasted from the creation of the world until 
the destruction of mankind in the great flood. The 
second — Tlaltonatiuh — the "age of earth," was that 
period when giants dwelt here, and was concluded by ter- 
rible earthquakes. The third age — that of air — Ehecat- 
onatiuh, ended in great whirlwinds, in which everything 
perished along with the third sun. The fourth, the " age of 
fire " — Tletonatiuh — was to be the last ; it began with the 
restoration of the human race, and, according to their 
mythology, was to end with the fourth sun. It was owing 
to this superstition that the closing years of their cycle were 
full of anxiety ; they regarded every omen in the sky, they 
were never free from the fear that the god of fire would 
devour them at the termination of every cycle. 

This century, or cycle, contained fifty-two years, divided 
into four periods of thirteen years each. Two of these 
centuries made up an "old century" — HuehuetiliztU — 
of one hundred and four years. Their years had four 
names only, they were : Tochtli, the Rabbit ; Acatl, the 
Cane, or Reed ; Tecpatl, Flint ; CalH, House. The first 
year of the century was (i) Tochtli; the second (2) Acatl ; 
the third (3) Tecpatl ; the fourth (4) CalH; while the fifth 
was (5) Tochtli; and so on to the thirteenth year, which 
ended with Tochtli. The second period., of course, began 
with Acatl^ the third with Tecpatl, the fourth with Calli. 
By this ingenious arrangement there was no repetition of 



122 Mexico. 

the symbols and their corresponding numbers and no 
confounding of the years one with the other. Now, as a 
century was completed, they called the end of it by a 
name, Toxiuhmolpia — signifying the " tying-together-of- 
the-years," because at this time the two centuries were united 
to form an age. On the last night of the centur}-', terror 
and anxiety prevented every one from sleeping, even had it 
been allowed by the laws. All the fires were extinguished, 
both in temples and houses, and all articles for domestic 
use, especially earthenware and kitchen utensils, were 
broken and destroyed. Some hours before midnight " the 
priests, clothed in various dresses and insignias of their 
gods, and accompanied by a vast crowd of people, issued 
from the temple out of the city, directing their way towards 
a mountain — Huixachtla — near the city of Iztapalapan, a 
little more than six miles from the capital. They regu- 
lated their journey in some measure by observation of the 
stars, in order that they might arrive at the mountain a 
little before midnight, on the top of which the new fire was 
to be kindled. In the meantime, the people remained in 
the utmost suspense and solicitude, hoping, on the one 
hand, to find from the new fire a new century granted to 
mankind, and fearing, on the other hand, the total destruc- 
tion of mankind if the fire by divine interference should 
not be permitted to kindle." The faces of the children 
were covered, and they were not allowed to sleep, to pre- 
vent their being t7^ansfo7'med info mice. All those who did 
not go out with the priests mounted upon roofs and terraces 
to observe from thence the event of the ceremony. 

Upon the breast of the human victim selected for this 
event were placed two pieces of wood, and as one of the 
priests gave him the fatal stab with the knife of flint 
another kindled the wooden shield by friction, and the 
flame flew upwards. Then the victim and the blazing 



The Tying-up of Years. 



123 



wood were cast into a pile of combustibles, and as the flames 
leaped up they were received by the assembled multitudes 
with shouts of gladness. The signal fire in the mountain 
top was seen all over the valley. " Myriads of upturned 
faces greeted it from hills, mountains, terraces, temples, 
teocallis, house-tops and city-walls ; and the prostrate mul- 




MEXICAN CENTURY. 



titudes hailed the emblem of light, life, and fruition as a 
blessed omen of the restored favor of their gods and the 
preservation of the race for another cycle. The priests 
carried the new fire to the temple, and in every temple and 
dwelling it was rekindled from the sacred source ; and 
when the sun rose again on the following morning, the 
solemn procession of priests, princes and subjects, which 



T 24 Mexico. 

had taken up its march from the capital on the preceding 
night, with solemn steps, returned once more to the city, 
and, restoring the gods to their altars, abandoned them- 
selves to joy and festivity, in token of gratitude and relief 
from impending doom," 

This was the last celebration of the festival of the sacred 
fire in Aztlan. Nearly eight cycles have rolled their rounds 
of years since then, but at the termination of none of them 
has been performed the ceremony of the "tying up of 
years." At that last rejoicing, in 1506, they felt them- 
selves safe for another century ; but, as a nation, they 
were to be swept from the earth. The age of fire, indeed, 
this proved for them, for their fair land was to be swept 
by fire and sword ; the victims they had sacrificed were 
to be amply avenged ! 



1 



The Beginning of the End, 125 



CHAPTER X. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 

[A. D. 1507.] A strange campaign was undertaken by 
the Aztec Emperor, in 1506, against the Lord of Malinalli^ 
in the Miztec country. It seems that this lord had in his 
possession a very precious plant, — and it must have been 
very precious to have had such a long name, — called the 
tlapalizqui-xochitl, that is, the " red flower." He refused 
to give up to Montezuma this tlapalizqui-xochitl, and so 
that emperor sent for it, and got it ; and also numerous 
captives, who were sacrificed at the dedication of the Tzom- 
pantli, or place of skulls, and at the festival of the tying- 
up-of-the-cycle. 

At the very beginning of the new cycle occurred an 
eclipse ; this was followed by an earthquake ; seventeen 
hundred soldiers were drowned in the Miztec country ; the 
inhabitants of Anahuac were terrified at these manifesta- 
tions of divine displeasure. " With the new cycle began a 
period during which, down to the appearance of the Span- 
iards at Vera Cruz, every event was invested with a myste- 
rious significance. . . . An army, sent to the province 
of Amatlan, perished with cold, and by falling trees and 
rocks ; a comet with three heads hung in the sky above 
Anahuac ; a great pyramid of fire was visible for forty days 
in the east, reaching from the earth to the sky." It was 
only too evident to Montezuma and the allied kings, as 
well as to their people, that great disasters were impend- 



1 26 Mexico. 

ing. It is not unlikely that unusual importance was given 
to these mysterious events, owing to the arrival of Euro- 
peans on the coast of Central America. Can we doubt 
that the obedient subjects of Montezuma had failed to 
inform him of the arrival of Columbus on the coast of 
Honduras in 1502 ? Four years later his army had invaded 
Guatemala. When they later returned, with prisoners for 
the priests, did they not report, what they could not have 
failed to have heard from the Guatemala Indians, that a 
white man's vessel had touched their shore and bartered 
with the natives? In 1506 De Soils and Pinzon, Spanish 
navigators, had coasted the eastern shore of Yucatan. 
Is it possible that Montezuma should not have heard of 
one of these arrivals 1 At the opening of the sixteenth 
century, when these omens first began to agitate the minds 
of 4;he Mexicans, the islands of the Caribbean Sea had 
been ten years visited by Europeans. The currents of 
that sea set up directly against the eastern coast of Yucatan 
and Mexico from the southernmost of these islands. Is 
it not probable that some article belonging to the white 
strangers should have been washed upon these shores ? 
One of the early historians, Herrera^ says that the king 
had in his possession " a box containing wearing apparel, 
and a sword of a style unknown to the natives." 

The appearance of the comet terrified them exceedingly ; 
the superstitious Montezuma consulted his astrologers, but 
they could give him no satisfactory explanation. Then 
he applied to Nezahualpilli, King of Tezcoco, who, of late 
years, had given so much attention to the study of astron- 
omy and astrology. Between the two monarchs a coldness 
had existed for some years, owing to the public execution, 
by Nezahualpilli, of one of his wives, a sister of Monte- 
zuma, and of a son, for whose life the Mexican king had 
interceded in vain. But in this extremity the disasters 



I 



Omens of Disaster. 129 

which threatened, seeming not to be confined to one nation, 
but to be universal, the kings were reunited. Nezahualpilli, 
jpeing invited to Mexico, and there put in possession of all 
the facts, concluded " that the comet predicted the future 
disasters of those kingdoms by the arrival of a new people." 
Montezuma did not relish this interpretation, and they 
agreed to settle it by a game of foot-ball between themselves. 
As Nezahualpilli came off victorious, it seemed conclusive 
that his interpretation was the correct one ; but still Mon- 
tezuma was not satisfied. He resolved to consult a famous 
astrologer of his own kingdom, who was justly considered 
as an oracle. Much to the chagrin of the monarch this 
diviner confirmed the prediction of the King of Tezcoco, 
and Montezuma, in a great rage, caused his house to be 
pulled to pieces and tumbled about his ears. No doubt he 
would have liked to serve Nezahualpilli in the same man- 
ner, but he dared not ; he retired to his palace in disgust, 
and filled with apprehension. 

[A. D. 1509.] Some of the Spanish historians speak of 
an occurrence that happened at this time in confirmation 
of these gloomy predictions. In the year 1509, Papantzin^ 
a Mexican princess, a sister to Montezuma, died, apparently, 
and was buried with great honors in a cavern in the garden 
where she was wont to go to bathe in a fountain. It 
,seems, however, that she was merely in a trance, and when 
she recovered she groped her way out of the cave and sent 
for her relatives, Montezuma and Nezahualpilli, declaring 
she had a message of great importance to communicate. 
When they had arrived, and had convinced themselves that 
it was truly Papantzin, sister of Montezuma, whom they 
had buried a few days before, they sat down and listened 
to her story. She said that after the trance had seized 
her, she found herself wandering upon an extensive plain. 
" In the middle of it I observed a road, which I afterwards 



1 30 ' Mexico. 

saw was divided into a variety of paths, and on one side 
ran a great river, whose waters made a frightful noise. As 
I was going to throw myself into the river, to swim to the 
opposite bank, I saw before me a beautiful youth, clothed 
in a long habit, white as snow and dazzling like the sun, 
with wings of beautiful feathers, and the mark of the cross 
upon his forehead. He laid hold of my hand and said to 
me, ' Stop, for it is not yet time to pass this river.' He 
then led me along by the river-side, upon the borders of 
which I saw a great number of human skulls and bones, 
and heard most lamentable groans, that waked my utmost 
pity. Turning my eyes towards the river I saw some large 
vessels upon it, filled with men of a complexion and dress 
quite different from ours. They were fair and bearded, 
and carried standards in their hands and helmets on their 
heads. The youth then said to me, ' It is the will of God 
that thou shalt live to be a witness of the revolutions which 
are to happen to these kingdoms. The groans which thou 
hast heard among these bones are from the souls of your 
ancestors, which are ever and will be tormented for their 
crimes. The men whom you see coming in these vessels 
are those who by their arms will make themselves masters 
of all these kingdoms, and with them will be introduced 
the knowledge of the true God, the Creator of heaven and 
earth. As soon as the war shall be at an end, and the 
means made known by which sins shall be washed away, 
be thou the first to receive it, and guide by thy example 
the natives of thy country.' Having spoken this, the youth 
disappeared, and I found myself recalled to life." 

It is said, that Montezuma M^as so shocked by this mel- 
ancholy prediction of the downfall of his empire that he 
immediately retired to one of his palaces devoted to occa- 
sions of grief, and refused ever after to see his sister. It 
is also related that she was the first, in the year 1524, to 



I 



The Sacrificial Stone. . 131 

receive baptism from the Spanish priests, and was called 
Dona Maria Papantzin. The*re is nothing to cause us to 
doubt the occurrence of tire other signs and events re- 
lated, but there is every evidence in this tradition of the 
work of the priests. It is a very pretty fable which they 
used to relate, in those years following the conquest, to 
induce the unsuspicious Indians to turn from their old 
religion and embrace the new. 

Though visibly affected by these prognostics of coming 
woe, Montezuma continued to urge war, relentless war, 
against tribes yet unconquered by Mexico. 

[A. D. 15 10.] In 1508 and the year following he made 
5000 prisoners, which were reserved for sacrifice in 15 10. 
This was the year in which he had brought to Mexico a 
new sacrificial stone. Instead of acting upon the advice 
of the King of Tezcoco, and desisting from further blood- 
shed, he listened to the counsel of his priests, who de- 
clared that only blood, shed in copious streams, could 
avert the threatened punishment of his gods. Then he 
sought for a stone large enough to form a fitting addition 
to his magnificent temple. It was found in the quarries 
near Cojoacan, and after it was hewn to the required size 
it was brought to Mexico. A vast concourse attended it, 
and the high-priest marched before it, muttering prayers 
and scattering incense. In crossing one of the wooden 
bridges over a canal, this immense mass broke through 
and fell into the water. The miserable priest and many of 
the men engaged in drawing it were drowned, or crushed 
to death, and the people rendered very unhappy by this 
event. They drew it out again, after incredible exertions, 
and finally deposited it near, or on, the temple. This 
stone may be seen to-day, in the Museum of Mexico, an 
elaborately chiselled block of basalt, nine feet in diameter 
and three feet in height. Those Mexican sculptors pa- 



132 Mexico. 

tiently carved its sides and upper surface, the sides repre- 
senting a procession of victors despoiling or slaying their 
captives. The upper surface is cut in symmetrical designs, 
and in the centre is a hollow with a gutter leading to the 
edge of the stone. This was to receive the blood of their 
victims, after they had been thrown upon the stone and 
their breasts cut open — as described on a preceding 
page. 

This memorial of Aztec barbarity was discovered in 
1790, in the great square where the temple formerly 
stood, which was demolished during the siege of the city. 
Twelve thousand prisoners, were, it is said, sacrificed upon 
this stone at its dedication, in the year 15 10. 

All the nobility of the kingdom were invited to be 
present at the ceremonial, and departed laden with pres- 
ents ; for the king, Montezuma, was a generous king, 
giving away the products of earth with as unsparing a hand 
as he took the human lives entrusted to his keeping. 

[A. D. 15 15.] Up to the year 15 15, the armies of Mon- 
tezuma were constantly engaged in different parts of the 
empire, in quelling riots and in extending its limits. At 
this period they had acquired all the territory they held at the 
coming of the Spaniards. If you would ascertain the extent 
of Aztec dominion at this time, and will turn to a map of 
Mexico, you will find that territory comprised in the mod- 
ern states of Mexico, Puebla, San Luis Potosi and some of 
Tamaulipas, Queretaro, Vera Cruz, Guerrero, Western 
Oaxaca and Chiapas. South of Chiapas the Mexicans had 
penetrated even to Guatemala, and perhaps to Nicaragua, 
but had acquired no permanent foothold there. The 
Aztec empire thus extended from Gulf to Ocean, not 
directly across, but touching both coasts at different 
points ; it comprised a large area, though not alto- 
gether entirely subjugated. During the reign of Ahu- 



Extent of the Empire, 135 

itzotl it had attained to the zenith of its power and 
glory ; although territory had been added since, yet 
the empire was sensibly weaker. As an ancient his- 
torian truly says : " Every province which was conquered 
created a new enemy to the conquerors, who became im- 
patient of the yoke to which they were not accustomed, 
and only waited an opportunity of being revenged and 
restoring themselves to their wonted liberty. It would 
appear that the happiness of a kingdom consists, not in 
the extension of the dominions, nor the number of its 
vassals, but, on the contrary, that it approaches at no 
time nearer to its final period than when, on account of its 
vast and unbounded extent, it can no longer maintain the 
necessary union among its parts, nor that vigor which is 
requisite to withstand the multitude of its enemies." 

Nezahualpilli, King of Tezcoco, was greatly depressed 
by the forebodings of the oracles, and retired to his pleas- 
ure-retreat of Tezcosingo, where he shut himself up with 
his favorite wife, Xocotzin. Six months later, he returned 
to his palace in Tezcoco, and there died in seclusion, wish- 
ing, perhaps, that his subjects should think he had been 
translated to the kingdom of his ancestors, Ameque-mecan^ 
like his worthy father before him. Nezahualpilli resem- 
bled his father, Nezahualcoyotl, in his love of justice and 
inflexible administration of his own laws. Having com- 
manded that no person in his kingdom should repeat cer- 
tain indecent words, on pain of death, he caused the 
penalty to be carried out against his own son for having 
addressed them to one of his mistresses. He was the last 
of that glorious line of Chichimec kings that sat undis- 
turbed upon the throne of Acolhuacan. Through discord- 
ant elements, directly traceable to his own sins, his king- 
dom was divided against itself, one portion taking part 
with the Mexicans and the other with the Spaniards, in 
the coming contest. 



13^ Mexico. 

[A. D. 15 1 6.] Cacamatzin, the first-born of the late 
king's sons by his first marriage — to the Mexican princess 
— was the choice of the electors to fill the throne. This was 
violently opposed by IxtUlxochitl, the son of the second 
princess married by NezahualpilH, though Coanocotzin, the 
second son, acquiesced in the wisdom of the choice. 

Cacamatzin was twenty-two, Coanocotzin twenty, while 
Ixtlilxochitl was only eighteen. But the latter was the 
most given to fighting of the three, and, though he may not 
have been the bravest, was the most quarrelsome. When 
only three years of age he pushed his nurse into a well, 
and threw stones upon her. At seven he raised a company 
of boys, which was the constant torment of peaceful citi- 
zens, not even considering their lives. One of the royal 
council having, very wisely, counselled the king to put to 
death such a disgraceful wretch, was assassinated by the 
boy himself. Old Nezahualpilli looked complacently upon 
the doings of this little imp, being the son of his favorite 
wife, — though he put one of his sons to death for speaking 
disrespectfully to one of his mistresses, and another for 
having commenced a palace without his royal permission. 

Cacamatzin was favored by Montezuma, and was crowned 
King of Tezcoco, while the fiery Ixtlilxochitl withdrew in a 
rage to the mountains. He was followed by a large force, 
and raised an army of nearly one hundred thousand men, 
with which he marched southward against Tezcoco. He 
took Otompan^ and made it his capital, and his brothers 
were glad to send him word that they would divide the 
kingdom with him, he taking the mountains and they the 
plain. Ixtlilxochitl returned, that he had no further design 
against Tezcoco, but that he should maintain his army as 
a safeguard against the ambitious designs of Montezumia, 
of whom he warned them. He annoyed the Mexicans 
greatly, by appearing suddenly at different points in the 



The Year 1517. 137 

valley. He burned alive a general of Montezuma's, who 
had gone out to capture him, and even had the temerity to 
dare his uncle, the great Montezuma, to personal combat! 
We cannot be less amazed than amused at this youth's 
audacity ; his courage seems to have been equal to that of 
his grandfather, Nezahualcoyotl. 

[A. D. 15 17.] The year 15 17 had been ushered in 
during the transactions narrated above, — a year big with 
the fate of the Mexican empire, for in it landed the first 
Spaniards on the shores of the Mexican Gulf. Let us not 
forget the condition of things at this time: the constant 
decrease in strength of the Mexican empire through its 
repeated acts of aggression, and the position taken by its 
most important ally, the kingdom of Tezcoco. 

Do not lose sight of these three Tezcocan princes, two 
of whom perished at the hands of the Spaniards, while the 
wickedest was rewarded with riches and honors. It will 
appear, when we reach the account of the Conquest, that 
the great arrny of the active prince, Ixtlilxochitl, was of 
the greatest service to the Spanish conqueror, Cortes, 
second in importance only to that of the brave Tlascallans. 
Had the Spanish commander known of the condition of 
things in Anahuac at the time of his coming, he could not 
have chosen a more auspicious season than that in which 
he invaded the country. 

Montezuma exerted himself to the utmost to appease his 
incensed gods. One historian tells us that he even ordered 
the great pyramid-temple of Huitzilopochtli to be covered 
with gold, feathers, and precious stones, from the ground 
to the summit platform, and put to death his minister of 
finance for representing that his subjects could not endure 
the necessary increase of taxation. 

[A. D. 1518 ] The last great sacrifice in Mexico appears 
to have been in the year 15 18, at the dedication of the 



1 38 Mexico, 

temple of Coatlan. ''But," says a learned writer,* "almost 
before the groans of the dying victims had died away there 
came to the ears of the Aztec sovereign the startling tidings 
that the eastern strangers had again made their appearance, 
this time on the coast of his own empire." Perhaps 
nothing had so startled Montezuma as this intelligence, for 
here was positive confirmation of the truth of the predic- 
tions of the oracles. Here at last were those strangers 
whose coming had been so long expected ; they could be 
no others, for they came from the East. And what was 
the significance of this ? Could they not have come from 
the West and yet not prove unexpected ? 

One element of disturbance in the mind of Montezuma 
was the prophecy of Quetzakoatl, the "Plumed Serpent" 
(see pages 39 and 40), who had declared at his departure 
that he would return from the direction in which he went — 
from the land of the rising sun. Centuries had passed since 
then ; the Aztec nation had risen from the obscurity of the 
marshes of Aztlan to be the greatest empire in the western 
world. To the inhabitants of this country there was no 
other world. The two seas bounded it — the Pacific and 
the Gulf ; beyond its shores they not only could not look, 
but they could not even send their thoughts ! These new 
arrivals, then, could be no others than the children of 
Quetzalcoatl; they were white, like Quetzalcoatl, and they 
were bearded, like him, and they came in great canoes that 
were swept over the water by broad white wings ! 

The ofiicials of the king on the watch on the coast caused 
accurate paintings to be made of the Spanish ships of 
Grijalva — who arrived on the coast in this year — and 
transmitted a full account of these wonderful strangers to 
Montezuma. At a royal council, hastily assembled, it was 
decided that these arrivals were the followers of Quetzal- 

* Bancroft, " Native Races of the Pacific States. 




— isL ^^-^ -J 



The Arrival of Strangers. 141 

coatl, and an embassy with rich presents was despatched 
to propitiate them. They arrived at the coast too late, for 
Grijalva had sailed for Cuba, leaving the promise of an 
early return. 

Priests and rulers seemed united now in the belief that 
the Spaniards were the messengers of the prophet, and from 
this time on the neglected deity, the " Plumed Serpent," 
was supreme. Upon his altar were deposited various relics 
of the Spaniards, that had been picked up from time to 
time, and "his peaceful rites prevailed over the bloody 
ones of Huitzilopochtli." 

Painful must have been the feelings of the proud Monte- 
zuma, as he recalled what Mexico had been in the past, 
and reflected what it was likely to be in the future ! 
Menaced by the brave and wary Ixtlilxochitl, who was 
constantly drawing surrounding tribes into alliance with 
him ; hated by his own people, whom he had kept so long 
in bondage ; forsaken even by his gods, to whom he had 
sacrificed thousands of human victims, what gloomy 
thoughts must have possessed him! 

He had abandoned the peaceful worship of Quetzalcoatl 
for the horrid practices of Huitzilopochtli — the offerings 
of corn and fruits for those of human hearts — was it 
possible that the great prophet w^ould regard him with 
favor at his coming ? He must have been, though dimly, 
conscious that the end of the Aztec Empire was nigh \ 



142 Mexico. 



CHAPTER XL 

A GLANCE AT THE AZTEC AT HOME. 

Indians, Columbus called the first men of the new 
world that met his sight in the Bahamas, and " Indians " 
they have remained to this day. Not only has the name 
been applied to those red men of the West India Islands, 
but to the whole race inhabiting North, South, and Cen- 
tral America. 

Did it ever occur to you that there might be a differ- 
ence among these Indians, as to color, size, nature and 
acquirements ! Has it ever been brought forcibly to your 
mind that there is as great a difference between the Indians 
of the North and those of the South as between the varied 
families of the white race ? The Irish and English are 
not as dissimilar as the Indians of the United States and 
those of Mexico. The Northern Indians are nomades, 
wild rovers by nature, possessing few of the arts of civiliza- 
tion ; the Southern Indians (as has been remarked in the 
opening chapters), were fixed to the soil, and had many 
acquirements to entitle them to high respect. Those 
Indians, at the time of their discovery by the Spaniards, 
were remarkably well-formed, of good height, with black 
eyes and hair, rather narrow foreheads, straight, shapely 
limbs and remarkable for their endurance. 

If allowed to live out the natural term of their years 
they generally arrived at a good old age. They were very 
moderate in eating, but indulged in strong drinks fre- 
quently to excess. They were patient and long-suffering, 



Mexican Costumes. 143 

enduring hardships without murmuring, and suffering even 
death without complaint. Tliey were (and so are their 
descendants at the present day) generous, grateful for 
kindness, nor distrustful . by nature. " They were by 
nature taciturn, serious and austere, and showed more 
anxiety to punish crimes than to reward virtues ; " yet were 
joyous on occasions, and even hilarious. They were not 
indolent, laziness even being considered by them a vice. 
Finally, they were courageous, being more affected by 
superstition than cowardice. To conclude, says the 
ancient historian, "the character of the Mexicans, like 
that of every other nation, is a mixture of good and bad ; 
but the bad is easy to be corrected by a proper education, 
as has frequently been demonstrated by experience." 

In regard to the state of civilization amongst the Mex- 
icans, when they w^ere found by the Spaniards, he says, 
" it was much superior to that of the Spaniards themselves 
when they were first known to the Phoenicians, that of 
the Gauls when first known to the Greeks, or that of the 
Germans and Britons when first known to the Romans." 
Of this let the future pages speak in evidence. 

DRESS OF THE MEXICANS. 

Though the very earliest people of Mexico went entirely 
naked, or partially covered by the skins of wild beasts, 
they gradually adopted a decent garb as they grew more 
civilized. The year that the Aztecs first wore garments 
of cotton is pictured in their annals. The men wore 
invariably the breech-cloth, and a mantle made of a 
square piece of cloth about four feet in length ; in addi- 
tion to this, in winter, they wore a sort of sack, with holes 
for the head and for the arms, reaching below the hips. 
The rich wore a greater number of and larger mantles, 
and fringed the ends, besides adorning themselves with 



144 



Mexico. 



jewelry. The dress of the women was the same as we 
may see worn in portions of Mexico and Yucatan. It 
consisted of two articles, the ciieitl^ a sort of petticoat, 

reaching from the waist to 
near the ankles, and the 
uipil^ or chemise, with very 
short sleeves, or without any 
at all, which covered the 
upper part of the body and 
thighs. On going out of 
doors they drew on a larger 
uipil, that descended lower, 
or perhaps an elegant man- 
tle. Both sexes, especially 
of the better classes, wore 
sandals, made of maguey 
fibre or deer- skins ; but 
probably knew not the use 
of stockings. The Aztecs 
wore their hair long and 
hanging down their back, 
sometimes- twisting it with 
black thread, as do many 
Indian women at the pres- 
ent day. Other tribes par- 
tially shaved their heads, 
and others braided their 
hair, some left a ridge and 
some left a single scalp- 
lock. The Aztec women 
painted their faces in va- 
rious colors, red, yellow or black, dyed their feet black, 
and cleaned and painted their teeth with the crimson 
cochineal. Both men and women had a passion for orna- 




DRESS OF THE MEXICANS. 



Mexican Costumes. 145 

merits ; gold, silver and precious stones for the king and 
the nobility; bone, stone or copper for the plebeians, in 
the shape of bracelets, anklets, armlets, and rings for the 
ears, nose, fingers and lower lip. But no subject could 
wear the same dress or ornament as his king, the penalty 
was death ! The nobles wore in their lips the chalchihuite, 
or native emerald, while the poorer classes thrust eagle- 
claws and fish-bones through holes bored in their ears, 
lips, and nose. 

The king possessed the greatest variety of mantles of 
cotton, so finely made as to resemble silk, and wore a dif- 
ferent one for every occasion. We can hardly believe 
that he never wore any dress a second time, as many have 
pretended. His sandals had golden soles and were orna- 
mented with precious stones ; the royal crown was a 
band of gold rising to a point in front, and sometimes or- 
namented with the long feathers of the quetzal, or royal tro- 
gon. Besides feather tassels garnished with gold, worn upon 
the crown of the head, the king sometimes wore chin orna- 
ments of crystal and precious stones, or golden crescents 
suspended from his under lip. In one account given of 
the visit of Nezahualcoyotl to the unfortunate King 
Chimalpopoca, imprisoned in a cage, we read that the king 
gave the young prince his emerald lip ornament at parting. 
The great lords bored holes in their noses and wore some 
kind of precious stones, one on each side. They wore 
strings of gems about their necks, bracelets of mosaic 
work, and greaves of thin plates of gold on their legs 
below the knees. Sometimes they carried a small golden 
flag in their hand, ornamented with a tuft of brilliant 
feathers, and wore upon the head a rich-plumed bird with 
its beak in front and its wings hanging over their temples. 

From this plain and sober statement of the costume 
and ornaments of the higher classes, collected from a 



146 Mexico. 

great number of writers, it will . be seen that the Aztecs 
were something more than the " barbarians " some histo- 
rians would have us believe them to have been. 

Soon after the birth of a child, the diviners were con- 
sulted as to its fortune, and a name was given it, taken 
from the symbol of the day of its iDirth. Thus, if it was 
born on the day of the flower, it was called Xochitl, with a 
proper prefix. One of the Tlascallan chiefs bore the name 
of Citlalpopoca, " Smoking Star," because he was born 
at the time of the appearance of a co77iet. On the fifth 
day of the little one's life its parents gave a great enter- 
tainment, and made presents to all their guests. The father 
fashioned a miniature bow and arrows, if he was a mili- 
tary man, and the child was a boy ; if it was a girl, they 
made a little garment, a spindle and instruments for weav- 
ing. These were buried in certain places — the instru- 
ments of war in the fields, those for the little girl in the 
house, under the stone for grinding corn. The babe was 
taken to the middle of the court and bathed, its nurse 
making a little speech to it as she undressed it, as follows : 
" My child, the gods, OmeteuctU and Omecihuatl^ lords of 
heaven, have sent thee to this dismal and calamitous world. 
Receive this water which is to give thee life ; " and, bathing 
and rubbing its limbs, she continued : " Where art thou, 
ill-fortune ? In what limb art thou hid ? Go far from this 
child." " She then dressed and laid him in the cradle, 
Cozolli, praying Joalticitl^ the goddess of cradles, to warm 
and guard him in her bosom, and Joalteuctli^ god of the 
night, to make him sleep." 

Early in life the Mexican children were taught useful 
lessons in modesty, religion and industry. At five years 
of age they were either delivered to the priests, to be 
educated in the seminaries, or their education commenced 
at home. The Mexican paintings show us the various 



Model Seminaries, 147 

steps taken in the bringing up of the children. One goes 
to the war, with his father, to learn the use of arms and to 
be courageous; another carries a small pack upon his 
back to market with his father; the little girls are early 
taught to spin and weave. 

They abhorred a lie, and the child that told one had its 
lips pricked with a thorn of the aloe ; if it persisted in 
lying, its lip was slightly split. Girls were instructed to 
remain at home, and if prone to walk about, their feet 
were tied. These Aztec fathers understood the beneficial 
effect of a " dose of birch," and in one of the paintings is 
a representation of a loving parent holding a rod over his 
son's back. If the boys were very refractory they were 
held over the smoke of burning paper until nearly suffo- 
cated. They were obliged at all times to sleep upon a hard 
bed, a mat spread on the floor, and to eat the plainest 
food. 

At the seminaries, the priests seem to have had it all 
their own way with the boys, pricking them with aloes- 
thorns and throwing firebrands at their heads if they were 
disobedient. It was not all a pastime, going to school in 
those days. Corporal punishment, as the Aztecs under- 
stood it, meant something more than a few strokes of a 
ferule ! In one of the paintings we see a naughty boy of 
twelve, bound hand and foot ; and a bad girl was obliged 
to rise in the night and sweep the house — no great task, 
by the way, as the houses of the poorer classes consisted 
of only a single room. Between thirteen and fifteen, the 
boys brought wood from the mountains, made trips across 
the lakes in canoes, and supplied the family with fish ; the 
girls ground corn, did the cooking and weaving. 

Schools were established for children of either sex ; they 
were always kept apart ; they were hardly allowed to speak 
to one another. In the colleges, the boys and girls re- 



148 Mexico. 

ceived chiefly religious instruction, were taught to sweep 
the temples, to gather wood for sacrifice, to clean and 
replenish the censers, and above all to fear and reverence 
the idols. When they left the seminaries it was either to 
be married or to go into the army. If a young collegiate 
did not then choose a wife it fared hard with him, should 
he desire one later, for hardly a girl would even look at 
him ! 

The maidens who attended the female seminaries were 
chiefly daughters of nobles and princes. They were 
strictly guarded and watched over by vestal priestesses ; 
and old men prowled about the outside of the building to 
keep off the boys. There were no evening serenades nor 
moonlight rambles for the young ladies of those semi- 
naries, for if a girl was detected in even looking at a 
young man she was severely punished ; and if she should 
presume to go to walk with him, her feet were tied to- 
gether and pricked with sharp thorns ! Death, even, was 
the penalty for the infraction of some of the rules. There, 
the young ladies learned how to spin and weave mantles, 
and to make the beautiful feather-work ; they, too, were 
obliged to sweep the temples and to tend the sacred fires. 
They were made to bathe often and to give great attention 
to personal cleanliness, to be skillful and tidy in domestic 
affairs. Both sexes were taught to hold their tongue in 
the presence of their elders, to answer them with rever- 
ence, and to be modest in their behavior. 

There are those who have said that these people were 
savages, who have called them barbarians. Let the reader 
judge if barbarians would take such jealous care of their 
children, if they would instruct them so judiciously. Let 
the reader form his opinion of them from their acts and 
discourses ; let him reflect upon the following good advice 
given by parents to their children. As rendered by the 



Mexican Morals. 149 

early historians, it is too long to be produced here in full, 
fragments only can be given : — 

" My son," said the Mexican father, "we know not how 
long heaven will grant to us the enjoyment of that precious 
gem we possess in thee ; but, however short the period, 
endeavor to live exactly, praying God continually to 
assist thee ! Mock not, my son, the aged or the imperfect. 
Scorn not him whom you shall see fall into some folly or 
transgression, nor make him reproaches ; but restrain thy- 
self, and beware lest thou fall into the same error which 
offends thee in another. Go not where thou art not called, 
nor interfere in that which does not concern thee. En- 
deavor to manifest thy good breeding in all thy words and 
actions. In conversation do not lay thy hands upon 
another, nor speak too much, nor interrupt or disturb 
another's discourse. When any one discourses with thee, 
hear him attentively, and hold thyself in an easy attitude ; 
neither playing. with thy feet nor putting thy mantle to thy 
mouth, nor spitting too often, nor looking about you here 
and there. When thou art at table do not eat voraciously, 
nor show thy displeasure if anything displeases thee. If 
any one comes unexpectedly to dinner with thee share 
with him what thou hast, and when any person is enter- 
tained by thee do not fix thy looks upon him. When any- 
thing is given thee accept it with tokens of gratitude ; if 
the present is great, do not become vain or fond of it ; if 
small, do not despise it or be provoked. If thou becomest 
rich, do not grow insolent, nor scorn the poor ; for those 
very gods who deny riches to others in order to give them 
to thee, offended by thy pride, will take from thee to give 
to others. 

" Never tell a falshood, because a lie is a heinous sin. 
Speak ill of nobody. Be not dissolute, because, thereby 
thou wilt incense the gods, and they will cover thee with 



150 Mexico. 

infamy. Steal not, nor give thyself up to gaming ; other- 
wise thou wilt be a disgrace to thy parents, whom thou 
oughtest rather to honor, for the education they have 
g-iven thee. If thou wilt be virtuous, thy example will put 
the wicked to shame. 

" No more, my son ; enough has been said in discharge 
of the duties of a father. With these counsels I wish to 
fortify thy mind. Refuse them not, nor act in contradic- 
tion to them ; for on them thy life and all of thy happi- 
ness depend." 

Now, this is not the language of a savage, nor — mak- 
ing allowance for the embellishment it may have received 
at the hands of the chronicler — is this the speech of one 
insensible to the higher duties of life. What a paradox is 
here before us, when we compare the moral with the reli- 
gious life of this people ! 

Let us see how the Mexican mother advised her daughter, 
when the time came for her to leave her : " My daughter, I 
have endeavored to bring thee up with greatest possible 
care, and thy father has wrought and polished thee like 
an emerald, that thou mayest appear in the eyes of men 
a jewel of virtue. Strive always to be good, for otherwise 
who will have thee for a wife ; thou will be rejected by 
every one. Life is a thorny, laborious path, and it is neces- 
sary to exert all our powers to obtain the goods which the 
gods are willing to yield to us ; we must not, therefore, be 
lazy or negligent, but diligent in everything. Be orderly, 
and take pains to manage the economy of thy house. 
Wherever thou goest, go with modesty and composure, 
without hurrying thy steps, or laughing with those whom 
thou meetest, nor casting thy eyes thoughtlessly first to one 
side and then to the other. Employ thyself diligently in 
spinning and weaving, in sewing and embroidering ; for by 
these acts thou wilt gain esteem. 



Mexican Morals. 15 1 

" In whatever thou doest encourage not evil thoughts, but 
attend solely to the service of the gods, and the giving of 
comfort to thy parents. If thy father or thy mother calls 
thee, do not stay to be called twice, but go instantly to 
know their pleasure. 

" Keep not company with dissolute, lying, or idle women ; 
otherwise they infallibly infect thee by their example. 
Attend upon thy family, and do not go on slight occa- 
sions out of the house, nor be seen wandering through 
the streets, or in the market-place ; for in such places thou 
will meet thy ruin. Remember, that vice, like a poisonous 
herb, brings death to those who taste it ; and when it once 
harbors in the mind it is difficult to expel it. 

" Enter not without some urgent motive into another's 
house, that nothing may be either said or thought injuri- 
ous to thy honor ; but if thou enterest into the house of 
thy relations, salute them with respect, and do not remain 
idle, but immediately take up a spindle to spin, or do any 
other thing that occurs. 

" When thou art married respect thy husband, obey him 
and diligently do what he commands thee. Avoid incur- 
ring his displeasure, nor show thyself passionate or ill- 
natured ; but receive him fondly to thy arms, even if he 
is poor and lives at thy expense. If he occasions thee any 
disgust let him not know thy displeasure at the time ; but 
afterwards tell him with gentleness what vexed thee, that 
he may be won by thy mildness and offend thee no far- 
ther. Embrace, my daughter, the counsel which I give 
thee ; I am already advanced in life and have had suf- 
ficient dealings with the world. I am thy mother. I wish 
that thou mayest live well. Fix my precepts in thy heart, 
for then thou wilt live happy. If, by not listening to me, 
or by neglecting my instructions, any misfortune befall 
thee, the fault will be thine, and the evil also. 



152 Mexico. 

" Enough, my child, may the gods prosper thee ! " 
No comment is necessary upon this advice. Setting 
aside the minor references to customs of the country and 
the gods, what better counsel could even a Christian 
mother offer to a beloved daughter than that of this 
Pagan ? 

The marriageable age was, for the young man, twenty to 
twenty-two ; for the young woman, sixteen to eighteen. 
The astrologers were first consulted, and if all promised 
fair, the parents of the young man sent certain female 
solicitors to the girl's family asking their daughter of them. 
This first demand was always refused, no matter how rich 
and respectable the young man might be, as it would have 
been contrary to custom to do otherwise. A few days later 
the old women made a second demand, which the girl's 
parents finally acceded to. She was sent to the house of 
the bridegroom, if of noble birth, borne on a litter ; if hum- 
ble, carried on the back of a bridesmaid; in any case 
accompanied by a great company of friends and by music. 
After much good advice had been given them they both sat 
down upon a new mat in the centre of the nuptial chamber, 
and the priest performed the marriage ceremony by tying 
together a corner of the htiepilli, or gown, of the bride 
and the mantle of the groom. They then offered copal, or 
incense gum, to their gods, and exchanged presents. At 
the wedding feast, which followed, they alternately fed one 
another and gave morsels to their guests. Four days they 
remained engaged in fasting and prayer, never leaving the 
room except to offer incense to their idols, certain old 
women watching with them. Two mats of rushes served 
them as couches, which had as charms against evil, feath- 
ers and a native emerald, the chakhihuitl^ and at their four 
corners were laid sharp spines of the aloe, with which they 
were to prick their ears and tongues, drawing blood in 



Marriage and Funeral Rites. 153 

honor of the god of matrimony. After four days were 
passed, they dressed themselves in new garments and car- 
ried the mats, canes, and remaining eatables to the temple, 
as a present to the idols, concluding the ceremony by mak- 
ing presents to the guests, who adorned their hands and 
feet with red feathers. 

In one district of Anahuac, a man wishing to marry pre- 
sented himself before the priest, who cut off a lock of his 
hair in front of the idol, and pointed him out to the people 
as he descended the steps. They at once commenced 
shouting, "This man wishes to marry," and the first free 
woman the man met was obliged to become his wife. 

In the Miztec country, after the garments had been tied 
together, the priest cut off a portion of their hair, and the 
man carried the woman about awhile on his back. 

Though polygamy was permitted to the kings and nobles 
of Mexico, it is thought that they had but one legitimate 
wife ; while the poorer people were generally faithful to one 
alone. 

When death overtook the Mexican, his body was given 
in charge of certain men, who dressed it in the garb of the 
god who presided over the family of the deceased ; if a man 
of war, that of Huitzilopochtli ; if he had been drowned, 
he was dressed in the habit of Tlaloc ; while if he had died a 
drunkard, in that of Tezcatzoncatl, the god of wine ! After 
placing a jug of water at his head, to serve him on his long 
journey, they gave the deceased different slips of paper ; the 
first was a passport " between the two mountains which fight 
together;" the second would enable him to go over "the 
road of the great serpent ;" the third, through " the place of 
the fierce alligator," etc. They also burnt his weapons of 
war and some of his household goods, that the heat of 
the fire might protect him from the "cold of the terrible 
wind." They killed a techichi^ or dumb dog, and, tying a 



154 Mexico. 

string about its neck, buried or burned it with the remains 
of its master ; this was to guide him over the deep river, 
Chiuhnahuapan, the "New Waters." After burning, the 
ashes were gatliered in an eartlien pot and buried. 

At the death of a member of royalty great ceremonies 
were observed. The corpse was clothed in many garments 
of fine cotton, ornamented with gold, silver and gems, an 
emerald hung from the under lip and the face covered with 
a mask. A funeral pile was prepared of resinous and 
odorous wood, and the royal corpse placed upon it and 
burned, with the arms and ensigns of the late king. The 
only repulsive part of the ceremony was the sacrifice of 
slaves and some of the king's jesters, that he might have 
agreeable company to the other world. Sometimes, though 
rarely, they sacrificed some of his wives, and always the 
techichi, that little animal that was to act as a guide in dan- 
gerous places. The ashes of the king, together with the 
emerald that hung in his lip, were put into a box which 
contained some of his hair, cut at an early age, and at his 
death, and then deposited in the tomb. On the fourth, 
twentieth, fortieth, sixtieth, and eightieth day afterwards, 
they made sacrifice and offerings of eatables over the sep- 
ulchre, and on each yearly anniversary, for four years, they 
made offerings of quails, rabbits, flowers, and butterflies. 
Sometimes a great deal of gold or treasure was buried with 
a king or noble. 



Gods and Goddesses, 155 



CHAPTER XIL 

RELIGION, GODS AND GODDESSES. 

By a people's conceptions of a future state many have 
often presumed to judge of their advance towards, or into, 
civiHzation. The Mexicans vaguely worshipped a Supreme 
Being, invisible and unchangeable, whom they called Teotl, 
or God ; him they feared, though they regarded him as a 
friend of mankind. 

The great enemy of man they considered to be an evil 
spirit, whom they called Tlacatecolototl, or the " Rational 
Owl." Instead of regarding the owl as the symbol of wis- 
dom, as did the Greeks, they made it the personification of 
evil and dark deeds. They believed the soul to be immor- 
tal. Soldiers who were killed in battle, or slain in captiv- 
ity, and the spirits of women who died in child-birth, went 
at once to the house of the sun, whom they considered as the 
" Prince of Glory," where they led a life of endless delight ; 
"where, every day, at the first appearance of the sun's 
rays, they hailed his birth with rejoicings, and with dancing, 
and the music of instruments and voices, attended him to 
his meridian ; there they met the souls of the women, and 
with the same festivity accompanied him to his setting. 
After four years, these spirits went to animate the clouds, 
and birds of beautiful feathers and sweet song ; but always 
at liberty to rise again to heaven, or to descend upon the 
earth to warble and suck the flowers." 



156 



Mexico. 



The souls of the wicked departed to a place of utter 
darkness, called Mictlan, or hell, where it seems they under- 
went no other punish- 
ment than that of being 
deprived of light. 

Had the Mexicans 
been content with wor- 
shipping only the great 
and invisible god, Teotl, 
and in offering him the 
first-fruits of their fields 
and gardens, all would 
have been well with 
them. But from the 
time that priests arose 
among them, so-called 
men of God, dated their 
woes and miseries. They 
made idols, which they 
pretended were images 
of the deities, and these 
the people adored — 
first as the representa- 
tives of God ; then they 
lost sight of the Supreme 
Being, and worshipped the senseless stone. 

The greatest god to whom they gave external form, 
and who ranked next to the invisible Go(i, was Tezcatlipoca^ 
the " Shining Mirror," the master of heaven and earth, the 
creator of all things. He meted out rewards and punish- 
ments ; he was ever youthful, ever powerful. It was declared 
by some that he had descended from heaven by a rope 
of spider's webs. He it was who drove from the country 
the great high-priest of Tula, the benevolent Quetzalcoatl 




AZTEC IDOL. 



Gods and Goddesses. 1 57 

(see Chap. II.). His image was carved from teotl (divine 
stone), like polished black marble; it was ornamented 
with gold and gems. Stone seats were placed at the cor- 
ners of the streets for that god to rest on when he came to 
earth. 

Huitzilopochtli^ or Mexitli, was the god of war, the " Mex- 
ican Mars." He was the deity most highly honored by the 
Aztecs, to whom they offered most of the terrible sacrifices 
spoken of in the preceding pages. By referring to the 
first migration of the Aztecs, you will see that he was 
created during that journey. He was said by some to 
haye beein born of a woman named Coatlicue, whose chil- 
dren prepared to kill her before this last child should be 
born. They were about putting her to death when Huitzil- 
opochtli sprang at once into existence, fully armed, with a 
spear in his right hand, a shield on his left arm, a crest 
of green feathers on his head, and his legs adorned with 
feathers. He fell upon the would-be murderers with such 
fury that he soon killed them all ; and after that he was 
known as the " terrible god." It was in his honor that the 
first temple of Tenochtitlan was built, at the foundation of 
the city, in 1325, after he had conducted his followers to 
the spot. 

Ometeuctli and Omecihuatl were the names of a god and 
goddess who dwelt in a magnificent city in the heavens, 
from which they watched over the world and gave to mor- 
tals what they asked of them. 

Cihudcohuatl, the woman serpent, was believed to have 
been the first woman in the world that had children, and 
she always had twins. 

TonatricU and MeztU were deifications of the sun and 
moon. The pyramids of Teotihuacan were dedicated to 
them; and of this place, and the primitive people once 
assembled there, they relate a pretty fable. It seems 



158 Mexico. 

that after the first great deluge there sprang sixteen 
hundred heroes, from a flint flung from heaven. These 
were at that time the only men on earth, and they prayed 
their mother, Omedhuatl, to create men to serve them. She 
directed them to go down to Mictlan and ask of the god of 
hell, Mictlanteuctli, some bones of men that had died; 
these they were to sprinkle with their own blood, and from 
them men and women would be created who would after- 
wards multiply. One of the heroes, Xolotl, went down to 
hell and begged a thigh-bone of old Mictlanteuctli, who 
gave it to him, but, when Xolotl turned and ran with it, 
pursued him in a rage. Xolotl escaped with it to his 
brothers, but in his haste fell and broke the bone. This 
is the reason why mankind are of different sizes, owing to 
their origin from different fragments. 

There was no sun in those days, it having been extin> 
guished in the great catastrophe. They assembled around 
a great fire in Teotihuacan and danced about it, and they 
told their servants that the one who would sacrifice himself 
by casting himself into the flames should become a sun. 
At this, an intrepid man named Nanahiiatzin threw himself 
into the fire. True to the prediction, at the appointed time 
the sun rose in the east, but he had hardly emerged above 
the horizon when he stopped. The heroes sent a polite 
message, asking that he would continue on his way up the 
sky, as a well-behaved sun ought to do. The sun replied 
that he would not stir a peg until they were all put to death. 
One of the heroes named Citli then shot an arrow at the 
sun, which the luminary escaped by dodging; but at the 
third arrow he got enraged and cast it back, fixing it in the 
forehead of Citli, who fell dead. Then the brothers all fell 
upon one another and perished, the last one, dying by his 
own hand, being Xolotl. The god, TezcatUpoca^ seeing the 
men, now without masters, very sad, directed one of them 



The Creation of Man. 159 

to go to the house of the sun and bring music to celebrate 
the festival, and in order that he might do so he created a 
bridge of whales and tortoises, over which he crossed the 
sea, singing a song the god had given him. 

This is related as a specimen of a Mexican fable, or tra- 
dition, and to show (as they say) whence they first derived 
the custom of sacrifice, whence they obtained music, songs, 
and dancing. 

Another of the men is said to have followed the example 
of Nanahuatzin, and threw himself into the fire, but the 
flames being less bright, he only became a moon. To him 
was dedicated the pyramid of the moon, at Teotihuacan, 
and to Nanahuatzin that of the sun. 

Quetzalcoatl was " god of the air " (see pages 39 and 
40 for a full description of him), highly reverenced, in 
portions of Mexico, and by some considered equal with 
Tezcatlipoca. 

Then there was a "god of the water," Tlaloc (master of 
paradise), "fertilizer of the earth and protector of the 
earthly gods." He resided on the summit of the highest 
mountain, probably the volcano Popocatapetl, where the 
clouds were formed and whence the streams descended. 
An image of Tlaloc, the oldest in Mexico, and supposed to 
have been made by the ancient Toltecs, was found on a 
mountain by the Chichimecs when they arrived in Anahuac. 
This image, which was of white stone, was taken away by 
King Nezahualpilli, and a black one substituted. This 
was soon struck by lightning, and the priests declaring this 
to be a punishment from heaven, the ancient white one was 
replaced, and worshipped till broken by a Spanish bishop, 
at a general destruction of the gods. Tlaloc had a com- 
panion goddess, Chalchihuitlicue, who resided in the storm- 
clouds. 

XiuhteiictU was the god of fire, to whom the Mexicans 



i6o 



Mexico. 



burned incense and offered the first morsel of food and 
draught at meals by throwing them into the fire. 

The great goddess of the Totonacs was Centeofl, wor- 
shipped also under the name of Tonantzin, goddess of tl^e 
earth and corn, who had a temple on the top of a high 
mountain, and was served by a great number of priests. This 







goddess of grain was a true Mexican Isis^ who presided 
over the crops, granting bountiful harvests. The Mexi- 
cans, who seem to have adopted this deity, alone stained 
her altars with human blood. 

Gloomiest of the gods was Mictlanteiictli, god of hell, 
and his awful spouse, Mictlancihiiatl^ who was believed to 
dwell in darkness in the interior of the earth. 



Varieties of Gods. l6i 

Joalteuctli was god of the night; Joalticitl, the goddess 
of cradles, who watched over children in the darkness of 
night. 

There were several gods of war, besides the great Huit- 
zilopochtli, sort of younger brothers, or adjutants. Every 
trade had its patron deity, like Jacateuctli, god of commerce 
and the merchants ; Xipe, the god of the goldsmiths, whom 
no one could neglect to worship without being afflicted with 
itch and boils; JVappateuctli, god of the mat-weavers, a 
jolly, generous sort of a god, the best-hearted of the lot. 
Mixcoatl was the goddess of hunting ; Opochtli the god of 
fishing, the inventor of nets and fish-spears. Huixtocihu- 
atl was the goddess of salt, who had been driven to the 
bottom of a lake by Tlaloc, and in whose honor the Mexi- 
cans committed a barbarous sacrifice yearly. Tzapotlate- 
nan, goddess of physic, invented a very powerful oil called 
oxitl, and useful drugs. Tezcatzoncatl was the god of wine, 
called also, from the effects his beverage produced, "the 
strangler," and "the drowner." Ixtlilton was a god of 
physic ; Coatlicue, the goddess of flowers, whose festival 
was celebrated in the spring months ; while Tlazolteotl was 
the pardoner of special sins. 

Teotiona?z was the " mother of the gods," created by the 
murder and deification of that unfortunate princess in the 
first years of Aztec national existence. 

Finally, there were the little gods (Tepitoton), or house- 
hold images, of which the kings and great lords had six in 
their chambers, the nobles four, and the lower people two ; 
besides which they also adorned the corners of the streets. 

Those mentioned above are the most noted gods only, 
for it is believed that there was a god for every day in the 
year, — even as people of our clay, of certain religions, 
have a saint for every day in the calendar. 

Though the most celebrated god in Mexico was Huitzilo- 



l62 



Mexico, 



pochtli; in Cholula it was Qiietzalcoatl ; among the Toto- 
nacs, Centeotl; and among the Otomies it was Mixcoatl. 

They were made of clay, and of stone, often of gold, 
and sometimes of gems. One of the first Spanish mis- 
sionaries to the Miztecs found one cut from a precious em- 
erald, which, refusing all offers for it, he ground to pow- 
der ! Many thousands were destroyed by the monks and 
priests, after the Spanish invasion, but many were pre- 
served and may be seen to-day. In the famous Mexican 
museum, in the capital of Mexico, you may find the images 




of Hiiitzilopochtli, of Tezcatiipoca, Mictlanteuctli, and a host 
of minor deities, in a good state of preservation. Cast 
down from his high position at the destruction of the teo- 
calli, Huitzilopochtli lay buried for many years, but was 
finally exhumed, in the year 1790, and set up in a court 
of the museum, no longer an object of worship, but of 

curiosity. 

The Mexicans prayed upon their knees, with their faces 
toward the east, and performed fasts, penances, and sacri- 
fices like other superstitious nations. We have already 
mentioned how it was that the Mexicans had so many 
gods — because they adopted those of the people they con- 
quered ; but besides the temples they erected to them they 
also had a great, cage-like prison, where they confaied the 
idols of many conquered nations ! 



Feasts and Festivals. 163 

A portion of this chapter will now be devoted to a 
description of those repulsive sacrifices, without which no 
important feast or festival was allowed to terminate. 
Though the plebeian portion of the Mexicans lived upon 
the poorest and scantiest food, yet everybody feasted and 
entertained his friends once in a season. As his guests 
arrived he presented them with flowers and made them wel- 
come to his house. 

The Mexican year contained eighteen months of twenty 
days each, and each month contained at least one festival. 
The first month (which commenced in February) held the 
first feast to Tlaloc, in which children were sacrificed and 
gladiatorial combats ensued, upon the stone for that pur- 
pose in the temple-yard. This was previous to planting ; 
but some of the children were reserved for the altars dur- 
ing the months of March and April, to insure the neces- 
sary rains for their crops. Xipe, the god of the goldsmiths, 
demanded the most cruel of all sacrifices, for after the 
prisoners had been murdered in the customary way, by 
having their hearts cut out, they were skinned. On this 
account this festival was called the " feast of the flaying of 
men." A second feast to Tlaloc was offered in April, at 
which time the filthy skins of the victims to Xipe (which 
some writers say had been worn by the priests during twenty 
days) were carried to a temple and deposited in a cave. In 
the month of April, also, the flower-traders celebrated in a 
more pleasing manner the festival of Coatlicue, the god- 
dess of flowers, by offerings of garlands of flowers. In 
the fourth month occurred the "great watch," when the 
priests, nobility and people kept strict watch throughout 
the nights, and did severe penance. 

A festival to CenteotI, goddess of maize, also occurred 
in this month, in which were sacrificed human beings, 
quails, and other animals. Ears of corn were carried by 



164 Mexico. 

girls to the temple, and after having been offered to the 
goddess, were returned to the granaries, that they might 
preserve the rest from decay. 

The fifth month was nearly wholly given up to festivals, 
but the principal one was that in honor of Tezcatlipoca. 
Ten days previous to its arrival, a priest wandered through 
the streets, sounding a clay flute. " Upon hearing the 
sound of this flute, all kneeled down ; criminals were 
thrown into the utmost terror and consternation, and with 
tears implored the god to grant a pardon to their transgres- 
sions, and hinder them from being discovered and de- 
tected ; warriors prayed to him for courage and strength, 
successful victories, and a multitude of prisoners for sacri- 
fices ;" and all the people, using the same ceremony of 
taking up and eating the dust, supplicated with fervor the 
clemency of the gods. The idol was newly decorated and 
adorned, and as the day arrived, a procession was fonned, 
moving towards the temple ; young men and girls carried 
wreaths of maize leaves, and bound them about the head 
of the idol, while the youths and virgins of the temple, as 
well as the nobles, carried similar wreaths. After doing 
penance, by lashing their backs with knotted cords, they 
made bountiful offerings of gold, gems, flowers, animals, 
and provisions, all of which finally found their way into the 
habitations of the priests. Then came the sacrifice of the 
victim. This god, Tezcatlipoca, did not require a multi- 
tude of prisoners to be killed in honor of him ; only one. 
But the circumstances attending the murder of this one 
were so heartlessly cruel as to cause our sympathies to go 
out to him as they could not to a thousand others who were 
killed in a body. He was selected a year before the festi- 
val, the finest and bravest of all their prisoners. In com- 
pany with another young man, selected as the victim to the 
god of war, he roamed the city at pleasure, but always 



The Victim of the God. 



165 



strongly guarded. He was everywhere reverenced as the 
Hving image of that supreme divinity, Tezcatlipoca. Every 
pleasure of life was allowed him, and twenty days before 
the festival he was married to four beautiful virgins, who 
exerted all their arts of 
pleasing to divert his atten- 
tion from the terrible fate 
so shortly to befall him. 
For five days previous to 
the festival he was feasted 
with everything the land 
produced. On the evening 
of the last day he dismissed 
his wives, took leave of 
everything dear to him on 
earth, and delivered himself 
up to be sacrificed. He 
was stretched upon the sac- 
rificial stone, and his heart 
torn out by the high priest 
and offered to Tezcatlipoca. 

The bodies of common victims were usually thrown down 
the steps of the temple, but this one was borne tenderly to 
the bottom of the pyramid and there beheaded, and his 
skull added to the many thousands adorning the Tzompan- 
tli, or temple of skulls. We are told that his arms and 
legs were dressed and cooked for the tables of the nobles 
and priests, and it has been often repeated that the children 
sacrificed to Tlaloc were likewise prepared for the table ; 
but many think there is not sufficient evidence on which to 
accuse these Aztecs of cannibalism. 

Races between the students, dances, offerings to the 
idol and a general dismissal from the seminaries of all 
boys and girls of a marriageable age, terminated the fes- 




;^5|^' 



1 66 Mexico. 

tivities in honor of the great god, TezcatUpoca. The god 
of war, HuitzilopochtU, demanded a festival in this month. 
The priests formed an image of him and bore it about the 
streets, and a great nmnber of quails were killed and 
thrown at the foot of the altar. The priests and nobles 
encouraged this sort of thing, because it gave them deli- 
cious food for their tables sufficient to last man}^ days. 
Then was sacrificed the companion to the victim of Tez- 
catlipoca, the young man of perfect shape and bearing, who 
had been selected a twelvemonth previously. Though he 
had been for a year recognized as the visible presence of 
Huitzilopochtli, he had not been adored, as had his com- 
panion. Though doomed to die on a certain day, he had 
been allowed to ramble about the city as he pleased. On 
the last fatal morning he was dressed in a curious dress of 
painted paper, and his head adorned with a mitre of eagle 
feathers ; over his shoulder he carried a small net and a 
bag, and in this costume he danced carelessly with the 
courtiers. That day was his last ; his last hour was to 
come when he should deliver himself to the cruel priests ; 
when he had done this, his breast was cut open in the arms 
of one of the priests, and his heart extracted. Dances 
and offerings of incense concluded the festival. 

In June, in the sixth month, the god Tlaloc had his 
third and last festival, when the temple was strewn with 
rushes from one of the lakes. If the barbarous priests 
met any one on their way to fetch those rushes, they plun- 
dered them of all their possessions, beating them unmerci- 
fully if they offered resistance. Attended by a great mul- 
titude of people, they went out in canoes to a certain por- 
tion of the lake, where there was a whirlpool, and there 
drowned two children. Either in this month, or one of the 
preceding, they had sacrificed other children by shutting 
them up in caves, leaving them to starve to death. All 



Barbarous Cruelties. 1 6/ 

this was done at the bidding of the priests, that the god 
Tlaloc might send them plenteous rains ! 

The goddess of salt, Huixtocihuatl, claimed a victim in 
the seventh month, which began the Ust of June. This 
time it was a woman. This month was given up to rejoic- 
ings ; the people went hunting in the mountains, and the 
nobility exercised the troops and organized flotillas of 
canoes upon the lakes. 

The eighth month fell due upon the middle of July, when 
a second feast to Centeotl, called now Xilonen, or tender 
maize, was prepared. The kings and nobles gave away 
food and drink, and priests and nobles made each other 
presents. At sunset, on the last day of the feast, occurred 
a dance of the nobility and the military, with whom danced 
a female prisoner, who represented the goddess Centeotl, 
and who was sacrificed with other prisoners as the sun went 
down. 

In the ninth month they held a feast to the god of com- 
merce ; and in the tenth, that of the god of fire, Xiuhteiutli, 
when they surpassed all former cruelties by torturing their 
prisoners with fire. The owners of the prisoners dyed their 
bodies bright red, to represent the flames, and the night 
before the horrid sacrifice went with their captives to the 
temple, where they danced till morning. As the hour 
arrived, each one took his victim upon his back, and danced 
about a great fire kindled in the court, into which they 
threw them, one by one, having previously partially stupe- 
fied them by the powder of a certain herb, which they shook 
in their faces. After the poor wretches were half roasted, 
they drew them out of the coals and bore them to the sac- 
rificial stone, where the priests completed the hellish work 
by tearing out their hearts. 

In the eleventh month was the festival devoted to Teteoi- 
nan, the " mother of the gods." A female prisoner was 



l68 ^ Mexico. 

the principal victim, slain in memory of that princess of 
Colhuacan who had been elevated to the high position of 
mother of all the Mexican gods. She was not killed in 
the usual manner, upon the stone of sacrifice, but was 
beheaded upon the back of a priest, and then flayed, and 
the ghastly offering made to the god of war. 

This same month was also devoted to the sweeping of the 
temples, the repairing of the streets, and the mustering into 
the army of the youth destined for w^ar. 

The twelfth month, beginning on the fourth of October, 
ushered in the great festival attending the coming of the 
gods — Teotkco. The temples and the corners of the streets 
were decorated with branches. At the head of the invisi- 
ble procession was supposed to be Tezcatlipoca, the deity 
supreme, and before the door of his sanctuary they spread 
a palm mat, sprinkled with maize meal. During the night 
certain priests carefully watched this powdered mat, because 
when the god came he left the imprint of his foot upon it. 
And it is very interesting to note, that he always came and 
left his footprint when nobody was about except the priest 
on watch. Some incredulous people have affirmed that the 
god did not come at all, but that the mysterious footprint 
was made by another priest while the sentinel's back was 
turned. Be this as it may, it always appeared on the night 
expected, and then the watchman cried out : " Our great 
god is now arrived P^ and the rest of the priests and the 
people crowded about the temple to gaze upon the divine 
token of the god's presence, and to sing hymns of thanks- 
giving. During the two days following, the rest of the gods 
came straggling in, and the happy people celebrated their 
arrival in a fitting manner, by dancing about a great fire 
and pitching into it such prisoners as they had destined for 
burnt offerings. 

The thirteenth month commenced on the last of October, 



Mixcoatl, Goddess of the Chase. 169 

when they celebrated the feasts of the gods of water and 
the mountains, making Httle mountains of paper, serpents 
of wood, and images out of paste, dancing about them and 
sacrificing five prisoners, four men and a woman. 

On the thirteenth of November commenced the four- 
teenth month, and the festival of Mixcoatl^ goddess of the 
chase, preceded by four days of fasting and self-torture, 
when, after making vast quantities of arrows and darts for 
the royal armory, they repaired to the mountains and in- 
dulged in a great hunt, sacrificing the animals they then 
captured. 

In the fifteenth month, which began on the third of De- 
cember, was the great festival to Huitzilopochtli and his 
brother, when the priests made two statues of a paste com- 
posed of seeds and blood, using as bones pieces of acacia 
wood. A grand and solemn procession followed these 
statues out into the suburbs of Mexico, traversing in all a 
distance of more than ten miles, and sacrificing on the 
route a great many quails and prisoners. After watching 
these paste statues in the temple over night, the chief priest, 
next day, in the presence only of the king and some high 
ofiicials, threw a dart at the chief statue. It passed through 
its body and it was then said to be dead, and after the 
heart had been cut out and given to the king, the body was 
divided into small portions and given to the people to 
eat. This being for the giving of strength in time of war, 
only men and warriors were allowed to eat of it. 

On the sixteenth month, beginning in the last of Decem- 
ber, was another festival to the gods of the water and 
mountains, when little figures of the mountains were made 
of seeds and paste, and eaten by the people. 

On the seventeenth month happened the feast of the 
goddess Tlamateuctli, when another female prisoner was 
sacrificed, after being allowed to dance to a tune the 



t/O Mexico. 

priests provided, and sing a lament over her unfortunate 
departure. 

The feast of Mictlanteuctli, the god of hell, was cele- 
brated in this month, by the nocturnal sacrificing of pris- 
oners, and another feast, the second, to the god of the 
merchants. 

The first of February finally completed this round of 
months and horrid festivals with another to the god of lire, 
when all the fires were extinguished and kindled anew from 
flame before the altar of that god. 

The most solemn of all the festivals was that of the 
Teoxihuitl, or "divine years," at the commencement of their 
cycle (as has been explained on pp. 12 1-3), which fell due 
on the twenty-sixth of February. 

These are the principal festivals, though not all, at which 
more or less of human blood was shed. Leaving this dark 
and bloody picture, let us turn to one that exhibits the 
Aztecs in a brighter aspect. 

LAWS, GAMES, FOOD, MANUFACTURES, ARTS, AND ARCHI- 
TECTURE. 

Notwithstanding the cloud from the smoke of sacrifice 
hung constantly above the lovely valley of Anahuac, it 
appears from the historic records, that the Aztecs some- 
times indulged in lighter enjo3"ments and possessed many 
mirth-making games. Though common crimes were pun- 
ished with terrible severity and the ordinary citizen was 
closely hedged about by rules, the transgression of which 
was death, he seems to have had periods of hearty enjoy- 
ment. The laws in such a community, where life was held 
lightly in esteem, were necessarily severe ; it is not of im- 
portance that we should devote our space to an enumera- 
tion of the crimes that entailed the death penalty, and we 
will merely remark that they were many, as in the days of 



Lyric and Drmnatic Poetry. 171 

Nezahualcoyotl, King of Tezcoco. Many of the transgress- 
ors were sacrificed at some of the festivals, especially at 
that of Xipe, god of the goldsmiths. Slavery was counte- 
nanced, though the child of a slave was born free; and 
if a refractory slave — even though his owner had the right 
to punish him by placing a wooden collar about his neck 
and selling him for sa^prifice — could escape, and gain the 
royal palace, he was considered free henceforth. More 
than this, if any one not his owner, or sons of his master, 
undertook to stop him, he lost his own freedom from that 
moment. 

Their laws and customs — especially as regarding war 
and the invasion of an enemy's territory — will be more 
fully dwelt upon in the progress of the Conquest. 

A rich and expressive language, like the Mexican tongue, 
was capable of extensive use in the mouths of poets and 
orators. They composed hymns almost without number, 
historical poems, verses on love and morality, in all of 
which was manifest their love for the objects of nature 
that surrounded them, to which they made figurative allu- 
sions. Nezahualcoyotl, the wise King of Tezcoco, was the 
great patron of art, and richly rewarded successful compo- 
sers in the Nahua tongue. 

Dramatic poetry received almost as much attention as 
lyric. In the great square of Tlaltelolco the Mexicans had 
built a theatre where they had a mimic stage. It was 
about thirty feet square, and raised twelve or thirteen feet 
above the level of the market-place, adorned with flowers and 
feathers. Here, after having dined, the people assembled 
to witness the actors, "who appeared in burlesque char- 
acters, feigning themselves deaf, sick with colds, lame, blind, 
and crippled, and addressing the idol for a return of health. 
Others appeared under the names of different little animals, 
some in the disguise of beetles, some like toads and liz- 



1 72 Mexico. 

ards, while several little boys, belonging to the temple, 
appeared in the disguise of butterflies and birds of various 
colors ; upon encountering each other they reciprocally 
explained their employments, which was highly satisfactory 
to the people, as they performed their parts with infinite 
ingenuity. This took place at their principal festivals only, 
when all the spectators made a grand dance, which termi- 
nated the ceremony." 

Their musical instruments consisted of horns, sea-shells, 
little flutes or pipes, and two great drums, called respect- 
ively Hiiehuetl and Teponaztli. The first was a tall cylin- 
der of wood — perhaps only a hollow log — the top of which 
was covered with a tightly-stretched deer-skin. The second 
was wholly of wood, with two narrow slits in its centre, and 
by beating this portion with drumsticks covered with rub- 
ber gum they produced a soft, agreeable sound. The 
sound of the larger could be heard a distance of two or 
three miles. To the accompaniment of these instruments, 
the Mexicans sang and danced their sacred dances. The 
dances were, some of them, of complicated pattern, and 
could only be learned by long and frequent practice. To 
this day, this love for music and dancing continues among 
the Mexicans, and some of their songs, dances, and rude 
instruments are yet preserved among the people of secluded 
districts. 

In their games proper the Mexicans displayed the great- 
est ingenuity and patience. That called by the Spaniards 
the voladorez, or " flyers," was a wonderful exhibition, and 
would even be considered so in modern times. In the cen- 
tre of some square the young men planted a tall, straight 
tree, stripped of its branches, and encased it in a wooden 
cylinder. Four ropes hung from the top, supporting a 
square frame, to which they lied four other ropes, and 
twisted them about the tree. Four men, who were to be 




MEN FLYING. 



Games and Pastimes. 1 75 

the flyers, mounted to the top of the tree disguised as great 
birds, Hke eagles and herons, and fastening themselves to 
the ends of the ropes, swung themselves into the air. As 
they did this the frame was put in motion and they revolved 
about the tree, the ropes becoming untwisted and their 
flights wider, until they reached the ground. Usually, an 
Indian would climb to the top of the cylinder, some sixty 
feet above the ground, and beat a little drum with one hand 
while waving a flag with the other. The conception of 
such a complicated game as this required a high intelli- 
gence, while its performance was attended with so much 
danger as to demand great skill and courage in those who 
took part in it. 

Games of foot-ball were much in vogue among these 
people, the principal one of which, called tlacheco, was 
indulged in by even the kings and nobles. You will 
remember that the two kings, of Mexico and Tezcoco, 
resorted to a game of ball to decide whose interpretation 
should be given to the omens in the sky, in the year 1508 ; 
that the fugitive prince, Nezahualcoyotl, won the favor of 
the people by his skill at this game, and that the brave 
Tlascallan chieftain frequently played it. They also had 
games resembling dice and backgammon, instead of cubes 
of ivory using large beans marked with dots. 

Feats of strength and agility were greatly encouraged in 
a nation like theirs, given to war, and called upon to under- 
go great hardships. Some of their acrobatic feats might 
put to shame many of our athletes of to-day. One is 
mentioned as having been exhibited before the Pope of 
Rome by two Mexicans sent over by Cortes. One of them 
balanced a heavy piece of wood, about eight feet in length, 
upon his feet, and whirled it round and round, as he lay on. 
his back with his feet in the air, with a man sitting astride 
each end of the beam. They also performed feats similar 



I 'j6 Mexico. 

to those common among our acrobats of the present day, 
such as, a man dancing upon a piece of timber supported 
on the shoulders of two others ; two men dancing upon the 
head and shoulders of a third, etc. 

The attainments of the Mexicans in the higher arts, such 
as sculpture, historical painting, and the goldsmith's art, 
were of no mean order. Though compelled to work with in- 
struments of copper, and mainly with chisels of flint (as iron 
and its uses was unknown to them), they executed admira- 
ble sculptures in stone, statues of clay, wood, and copper, 
gold and silver. The vast number of their idols bears wit- 
ness to their patience and industry, even though thousands 
have been destroyed, and those we see to-day are not a 
hundredth part of those produced. It was acknowledged 
by the gold and silversmiths of EurojDe that some of the 
work of the Aztec artists could not be produced b}^ the 
best workmen among them. Besides the wonderful figures 
in various metals, gems set in gold, and objects of art and 
utility, the Mexicans fabricated most wonderful mosaics of 
the feathers of birds. This feather-work w-as something 
entirely new to the Spaniards on their arrival, and an art 
that seems to have been exclusively of Aztec origin. It is 
one of the very few that have survived to the present day ; 
perhaps the only one jDractised in its perfection. In the 
manufacture of potter}' they were very skillful, especially 
the natives of Cholula, the district in which dwelt the 
priests of Quetzalcoatl. As weavers, also, they produced 
admirable cloth of cotton, of the fibres of the maguey, and 
the mountain palm. They made mats of palm leaves and 
rushes, twisted thread and ropes of maguey fibre, and 
dressed the skins of birds and quadrupeds so* excellently 
that they could be worn as garments. 

The goddess of niedicine, Tzapopotlatenaji^ had a great 
number of very skillful followers, who understood the 








VAPOR BATHS. 



Food of the Aztecs, 179 

hidden virtues of the plants of Mexico and cured desperate 
diseases and wounds. If we wish a notable example of 
their skill, we will find it in the curing of the dangerous 
wounds that were received by Cortes, in the retreat from 
Mexico, which were healed by simples applied by a Tlas- 
callan physician. As a great preventive against disease the 
Mexicans used the bath frequently — especially the Temaz- 
calli, or vapor-bath, a low, oven-like structure of brick, 
where steam was generated from the water poured upon 
heated stones. 

What the Aztecs ate, may interest many to know, as in 
those days the range of food-plants, and animals suitable 
for the table was quite limited. They had no cattle, sheep, 
goats, hogs, horses, donkeys or fowls (save turkeys). In 
the early years of their existence in Anahuac (as we have 
already seen), they subsisted upon the roots of marsh 
plants, snakes, lizards, frogs, flies, and flies' eggs ; fish of 
the lake, and small animals, such as rabbits, etc., that they 
could catch. 

Maize, or " Indian corn," was their chief reliance at all 
times, from the very earliest period of which we have any 
knowledge, and from it they made those corn-cakes known 
in the Spanish colonies of America as tortillas. These are 
made from corn that has been soaked in lime-water, crushed 
to a fine paste between two stones, and formed into thin, 
wafer-like cakes that are baked upon a stone or metal slab 
over a quick fire. From this valuable grain they also made 
strengthening gruels and drinks, as well as from the cacao 
or chocolate bean, and the chia, belli v/hicli are native to 
this country and were unknown in Europe till after the 
Conquest. Their seasonings were salt, made from the 
water of Lake Tezcoco and from salt-springs, peppers, 
and tomate — tomatoes. They made wine from the maguey^ 
or Mexican aloes, — the famous ''pulque^'' — and other 



1 80 Mexico. 

beverages from the corn, the mountain-palm, and other 
plants. 

So we may see, that, though they did not possess a great 
variety, yet they utilized all that their country afforded. 
Eggs they had from the turkeys, iguanas, turtles, and per- 
haps the alligators ; their meats were the flesh of quail and 
other native birds, rabbits, deer, and wild hogs, or pec 
caries. Having no beasts of burden, they trained their 
children to carry heavy loads over great distances, which 
they do even now, surpassing every other people in respect 
to endurance and strength. It is said that they had not 
found out how to make candles from wax, and as they had 
no sheep they could not obtain tallow ; but in the coast 
countries they made use of those luminous coleoptera 
called fire-flies, and in the uplands torches of ocotl, or resin- 
ous pine-wood, to give them light at night. The habits of 
the people were very simple, and as they usually rose with 
the sun and retired at dark, they had little need for arti- 
ficial light. 

Every house had its idol, before which they daily burned 
incense of gum copal, which is a spontaneous product of 
the country. After laboring a little while in the morning, 
the poorer people had their frugal breakfast of tortillas^ or 
atolli — maize gruel, which meal they repeated in the after- 
noon. They ate sparingly, but drank frequently, and the 
nobility enjoyed a siesta after their meals, soothing them- 
selves to sleep by the aid of tobacco, which they smoked 
through a little pipe of wood, or a reed, mixed with the 
leaves of the liquidamber. 

Finally, in a list of the vegetable productions that min- 
istered to the wants of the Mexicans, should not be forget- 
ten a singular fruit and a root that provided them with 
soap. The root, called the amolli, possessed excellent 
cleansing properties, not only when used upon the person 
but upon cotton and linen. 




■i' 4i:-^\ 



J. #.%M 



%* 



Houses and Household Economy. 183 

We have glanced over the Aztecs and their surroundings ; 
to complete the picture we need to be informed upon their 
household economy, one or two arts, and their architecture. 
Their houses, even those of the nobles, were not fur- 
nished with a great variety of furniture. The beds of the 
poor were coarse mats of rushes, spread upon the floor, 
while those of the higher classes were finer in quality and 
used in greater quantity, covered with sheets of cotton, or 
linen woven with feathers ; the pillows of the poor were 
logs of wood, or stones, those of the rich were probably of 
cotton, while quilts of cotton and feathers covered them at 
night. For chairs they had low seats carved of wood, or 
heaps of rushes or palm leaves, and at their meals they 
spread a mat upon the ground, instead of using a table, 
and " used napkins, plates, porringers, earthen pots, jugs, 
and other vessels of fine clay, but not, as we can discover, 
either knives or forks." No household was complete with- 
out the metati, or stone corn-mill, the chocolate jug, and 
the Xicallis, or vessels made from gourds or calabashes. 

The houses themselves, the dwellings of the Mexicans, 
were at first simple huts of reeds and rushes, and later 
on were made of sun-dried brick or stone and mud, 
with a thatching of grass, palm leaves, or the long, thick 
leaves of the maguey. As the city of Mexico improved, 
the houses of the lords and nobles were built of tezontli, a 
rough, porous stone that was easily worked and laid with 
lime. They were generally constructed in two stories, with 
halls and large courts, with a door opening to the street 
and another to the canal. The roofs were flat and terraced, 
the floors and pavements were of plaster or cement, and 
the walls covered with plaster so white and glistening as to 
shine like silver in the sun. Battlements and turrets 
adorned and defended the walls of some, fountains were 
enclosed in their courts and gardens, and fish-ponds were 



1 84 Mexico. 

numerous and well laid out. They had no doors, but mats 
were hung in their place, with shells, broken pottery, or 
some such thing hung to them to warn the family, by 
their jingling, of the entrance of any one. It was not cus- 
tomary, however, for any one not a member of the family 
to enter another's house, and the laws against thieves were 
so strict that there was Httle danger from stealing. Con- 
spicuous examples of their skill in architecture will be 
pointed out when we return to the city of Mexico in the 
ranks of the conquerors. Let us speak of two great achieve- 
ments of this people, then we will take up the thread of 
historical events again. 

Their calendar system was so nearly perfect as to excite 
the highest admiration. It has already been alluded to. 
Their great " calendar stone," by aid of which they calcu- 
lated the recurrence of their cycles and the return of their 
festivals, may yet be seen in the city of Mexico, where it 
is cemented into the western wall of the great cathedral ; 
which position it has occupied since 1790, though its antiq- 
uity is much greater than that. It is said to weigh forty- 
five tons, is eleven feet in diameter, and was hewn from a 
great basaltic rock. 

The most wonderful accomplishment of the Mexicans is 
yet to be mentioned — their ce\ehr?itedi picfiire-writijtg. It 
is thought that this art of representing historical events by 
means of paintings was an invention of the Toltecs. It is by 
means of them that their early history, as given in previous 
pages, has been preserved. Thousands of them were de- 
stroyed by the first Spanish missionaries to Mexico, as 
" u'orks of the devil," but a sufficient number were hidden 
from them, and afterwards discovered and preserved, to be 
of service in constructing the aboriginal history. Besides the 
picture-paintings, proper, they had also a system of hiero- 
glyphs, they could count up to any required number, and each 



Hieroglyphs and Picture-P amthigs . 



185 



numeral was represented by a different character, and each 
city giving tribute to the crown ; and not only material 
things, but abstract ideas had their particular characters. 

Having, in these latter pages, given a description of 
Aztec life, customs, character, and accomplishments, we 
shall be prepared to pursue the history of this people 
through a period subsequent to the arrival of the Spanish 
adventurers in the Gulf of Mexico. 




CACTI. 



II. 

THE PERIOD OF THE CONQUEST. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE "discovery" OF MEXICO. 

[A. D. 15 1 7.] Twenty-five years after the discovery 
of the New World, the first European vessel that ever 
landed on the shores of Mexico struck keel against the coral 
rocks of Yucatan. Though Columbus heard of Yucatan in 
1502, and Pinzon and Solis sighted its coast in 1506, circum>> 
stances unexplained had set them sailing southward and 
eastward without making a landing. In 15 11 Cuba, which 
had been discovered in 1492 by Columbus, was colonized, 
and in a few years her enterprising governor, Velasquez^ 
aided in fitting out small expeditions for discovery in other 
directions. The first of these was that of Francisco He?-- 
nandez de Cordova^ equipped mainly at his own expense, 
and consisting of one hundred and ten soldiers, in three 
small vessels. They were guided by the famous pilot 
Alafninos, who had sailed when a youth with the great 
admiral. After several days they descried land at the 
northernmost point of Yucatan, which they called Point 
Cotoche. Drawing nearer shore they saw great buildings 
of stone, whitened with lime, and shining in the sun. 
Some of the natives came off to them, Indians far superior 
to those of the West Indies, even excelling the intelligent 
i86 



First Voyage to Mexico, 



187 



inhabitants of Cuba in appearance. They were clothed in 
cotton garments, possessed bows, arrows, shields, spears. 




and darts of a superior quality, and approached the vessels 
fearlessly in canoes large enough to contain fifty men each. 



1 88 Mexico. 

Returning the next day the captain of the Indians invited 
the Spaniards on shore, and leading them into an ambus- 
cade wounded several of them. The Spaniards, however, 
gave them a taste of their sharp swords and killed fifteen. 
Meanwhile, during the fight, a vagabond priest whom they 
had brought along with them sacked a temple, and brought 
off several wooden chests which contained stone idols, 
various vessels, three diadems, and some images of birds 
and fishes in. alloyed gold. This was their only consolation 
during the entire trip, for after that they had nothing but 
fighting. They wondered at the great stone buildings, as 
the first of the kind they had seen in America, and at the 
fierceness of the inhabitants of Yucatan, who resembled in 
this respect the West Indian Caribs. Sailing southward, 
skirting the western coast of Yucatan, they landed at a 
place called Campeche, where they saw more temples of 
stone, filled with hideous idols in the shape of serpents. 
The natives assembled in great numbers, and their chief 
asked of them, by signs, if they camiC from the East, prob- 
ably having in mind the legend of the " Feathered Serpent." 
Then their priests, dressed in robes of white cotton, their 
long hair clotted with blood, rushed out of a temple, 
kindled a fire of grass and faggots, and fumigating the 
Spaniards with the incense of the native gums, indi- 
cated by signs that if they were not well off their shores 
before the fire had gone out, their warriors would attack 
and destroy them. 

Well had it been for Cordova and his soldiers had they 
taken this advice and returned to Cuba. Escaping from 
this place unharmed they were driven by lack of water to 
go on shore below Campeche. They landed at an Indian 
town called Champotan^ where, while they were sinking 
wells, they were attacked by Indian warriors, armed with 
shields and two-handed swords, their bodies protected by 



Brave and Warlike Indians. 191 

defensive armor of quilted cotton, their faces painted 
black, white, and red, and with plumes of feathers in their 
hair. They were the fiercest Indians the Spaniards had 
yet encountered ; they fought bravely, and though they for 
the first time heard the report of firearms and witnessed 
their destructive effects, they finally drove the Spaniards to 
their boats, with the loss of half their number in killed, and 
every one of them wounded but one. Then, indeed, were 
the Spaniards glad to set sail for Cuba, first making for the 
coast of Florida for water, for they were perishing of thirst. 
Brave Captain Cordova had received no less than twelve 
serious wounds from arrows, from the effects of which he 
died a few days after reaching Cuba. They found 
water on the coast of Florida, where they touched, but 
while engaged in refreshing themselves and in washing 
their wounds they were set upon by savages, and the only 
man who escaped from Champotan without a hurt was 
killed or carried into captivity. In pitiable state, with only 
two vessels, and these in a sinking condition, they at last 
reached Cuba with their dying captain, and the mem- 
bers of the expedition scattered to their various plantations, 
most of them having had enough of western exploration ; 
but the fame of their discovery got noised about the island, 
and incited others to follow in the track they had taken. 

VOYAGE OF JUAN DE GRIJALVA. 

[A. D. 15 18.] The avarice of the Governor of Cuba be- 
ing excited at the sight of gold, and by the assertions of 
two Indian captives that the land abounded in it, he fitted 
out four ships, and placed them in command of a discreet 
young man named Juan de Grijalva. Two hundred and 
forty volunteers were in readiness to accompany him, 
among whom were several of the last party of the unfortu- 
nate Cordova. Chief among these was the skillful pilot 



192 Mexico. 

Alaminos, and a young soldier named Bernal Diaz, who 
was one of the conquerors of Mexico, and who, fifty years 
later, wrote the best account of the Conquest that has ever 
been given to the world. Driven by the currents farther 
southward than w^ere the vessels of Cordova, those of Gri- 
jalva first made land at the island of CozumeL Here they 
found a good harbor, and soon reconciled the inhabitants, 
who had fled at the sight of the vessels. 

With what astonishment must these simple Indians have 
regarded the great white-winged canoes that came to them 
from an unknown country, full of bearded men clad in 
strange garments and with such terrible weapons in their 
hands ! 

They had left Cuba on the third of April, 15 18, and 
reached this island of Cozumel eighteen days later. After 
having made presents to the inhabitants, and having found 
that there were here great quantities of vegetables, such as 
sweet potatoes, hives of honey, and great droves of wild 
hogs, ox peccaries, they set sail down the coast. Arrived at 
Champotan, they attacked and defeated the Indians gathered 
here (which was an easy matter with their large force and 
by the assistance of guns placed in the bows of their boats). 
They were greatly annoyed, during the fight, by clouds of 
locusts, which flew against their faces with such force that 
they hardly knew which to put up their shields against, 
arrows or insects. The coast below was entirely unin- 
habited, but they found the forests filled with game, 
especially deer and rabbits, some of which they captured by 
the aid of a greyhound, which dog wandered into the woods 
and was left behind. After passing a deep sound, which 
they named Boca de Terminos, they finally arrived at the 
mouth of the river Tabasco, which is sometimes called — 
and with reason — the "River Grijalva," after the brave 
captain who discovered it. 



First Signs of Gold and News of Mexieo. 193 

As they approached the shore, they heard the sound of 
falUng tunber, which indicated that the Tabascans were 
making preparations for defence ; but by the wise policy of 
Grijalvathe chiefs were brought to a peaceful consultation, 
and, though in great force, they received the Spaniards 
kindly. They brought them a great quantity of pro- 
visions, such as boiled fish, fowls, fruit, and maize bread, 
and what little gold they possessed, in the shape of golden 
lizards and birds, and three golden necklaces, not of very 
great value. The great object of the Spaniards, in all 
their expeditions, being the discovery of the precious 
metals, at whatever cost of life or labor to the Indians, 
they inquired eagerly where it could be obtained. They 
were told that away in the interior, a long ways off to the 
west, was a country called Acolkua, or Mexico, where there 
was a great abundance of gold. 

[A.D. 15 18.] This was Xh^ first intimation the Spaniards 
ever had of Mexico ; a fact it would be well to bear in mind 
in its connection with subsequent events. 

The Spaniards had with them the two Indians captured 
on the expedition of Cordova the year previous, who 
served as interpreters up to this point. These young men 
had been baptized, and christened Julian and Melchor. 
They had also taken off an Indian woman of Jamaica, 
whom they had found at Cozumel, whither she had been 
driven in a boat by the currents, and where her husband 
and companions had been sacrificed. 

We may well believe that the imaginations of Grijalva 
and his followers were all aflame as they coasted this new 
country, as virgin and unexplored as was Cuba when dis- 
covered by Columbus, twenty-five years previously. At 
the river Goazcoalcos they saw Indians with shields of 
tortoise-shell, which, flashing back the sun from their pol- 
ished surfaces, they took to be of gold. Indians came down 



194 Mexico. 

to the shore and waved white flags to them as signals to 
land ; perhaps embassadors of Montezuma, who were 
already on the watch for the white strangers. This was 
at the River of Banners ; they landed and bartered with 
them, giving them worthless glass beads for precious gold. 
They were, without doubt, officers of Montezuma, these In- 
dians with the white flags, who had heard of the great 
battle at Champotan the year previous, and had posted 
sentinels on the watch all along the Gulf coast. By re- 
ferring to Chapter X. you may ascertain the condition of 
things in the Mexican empire, and learn of the supersti- 
tions that caused Montezuma to receive these vagabond 
Spaniards with gifts worthy royalty itself, when he should 
have exerted all his power to crush them completely. 
Calling to mind the legend of Qiietzalcoatl, and the strong 
effect the signs and omens had upon the minds of the 
Mexicans, you will see that these ships of Grijalva's were 
supposed by them to contain messengers from the great 
" Feathered Serpent " himself, who was now coming from 
the East to resume his charge of the Mexican kingdom. 

Landing at this place, the soldiers of Grijalva found the 
embassadors of Montezuma reclining under some trees, 
well supplied with provisions of bread, fruit, and fowls. So 
eager were they to trade and to get objects of the Spaniards 
to send to their sovereign, that for a small quantity of cut- 
glass and beads they gave gold to the value of over fifteen 
thousand crowns ! As before had been done, an account 
of this arrival of the ships was transmitted to Montezuma 
by his agents, painted on cloth, and ser\-ed to add fresh 
fuel to his fears. 

At a point on the coast where is now the city of Vera 
Cruz Grijalva landed his men, and remained for quite a 
while. Here thev found evidences of that accursed idol- 
atry of the Mexicans, for on a small island in the bay they 



Grijalva Reaches Vera Cruz, 195 

discovered a temple of stone containing an image of the 
Mexican god, Tezcatlipoca, and the remains of two boys 
who had been sacrificed the day before. Four Indian 
priests met them as they landed on the island, and under- 
took to fumigate them with incense, as was the custom 
whenever they had landed in Yucatan. Another small 
island, where the walls and altars of a temple were stained 
with the blood of sacrifice, they called Isla de los Sacrificios, 
or Island of Sacrifices ; and the one nearest the shore, as 
it was told them that the sacrifices there had been done 
by order of the Indians of Colhua, they called Ulua, and 
afterwards St. John de Ulua. The fortress that guards 
the harbor of the city of Vera Cruz is built ujDon this 
island. 

No more Indians coming to trade, and the mosquitoes 
being " very importunate," Juan de Grijalva sent the soldier 
Alvarado back to Cuba in one of the vessels, with the sick 
and wounded of the company, and all the gold he had got, 
while he with the three other vessels* kept on as far north 
as the river Panuco. At the mouth of one of the rivers 
they met with some very valiant Indians, who nearly suc- 
ceeded in capturing their smallest vessel, and a little beyond 
this point, finding nothing further of value or interest, they 
turned about and retraced their route to Cuba. 

In the province of Goazcoalcos they found some more 
gold, and here the soldiers nearly went wild over the ex- 
traordinary bargains they were making with the Indians 
for their golden hatchets. Every Indian had a little 
hatchet of a golden hue, which he carried about with him, 
and readily parted with for a few glass beads. More than 
six hundred were obtained by the company, and every 
man fancied himself rich ; but when they had arrived in 
Cuba it was found that these supposed treasures were 
almost worthless, as they were all of copper ! The Gov- 



ig6 Mexico. 

ernor of Cuba, Velasquez, could not be other than well 
pleased at the success of Grijalva's expedition, for he 
brought back gold to the amount of twenty thousand 
crowns ; yet he pretended to blame this most generous 
and upright of all the explorers because he had not planted 
a colony. In his next expedition, which was nearly fitted 
out at the time of Grijalva's return, he neglected the claims 
of this intrepid young man, and bestow^ed the command 
upon another — greatly to his cost, as we shall later see. 



Voyage of Hernando Cortez. 197 



CHAPTER XIV. 

VOYAGE OF HERNANDO CORTEZ. 

In the year 1504 there came to the West Indies a young 
man, then about nineteen years of age, by the name of Cor- 
tez. He was well received in the island of Hispaniola 
(Haiti), as the governor, Ovando, was from his own native 
province of Estremadura in Spain, and he was assigned the 
clerkship of a small town and an encomienda of Indians. 
In 15 1 1, when Velasquez sailed over to Cuba, and com- 
pleted the conquest of that island, Hernando Cortez, now 
a man of some importance, went with him. There he 
acquired land and Indians, and grew wealthy, devoting him- 
self to the cultivation of his plantation and the raising of 
stock. 

[A.D. 15 18.] And it so happened, that when, in the year 
1 5 18, Governor Velasquez looked about him for a com- 
mander for his third expedition to Mexico, the name of 
Cortez was brought prominently before him. These two 
gentlemen had previously quarrelled (about an affair which 
does not particularly concern this history), but were now 
reconciled, and Velasquez considered favorably the prop- 
osition, made by a friend of Cortez, that he should have 
the command. Imperious, as well as ambitious, the gov- 
ernor had taken offence at the doings of the brave and dis- 
creet Grijalva, who had the strongest claims upon his con- 
sideration, and abandoned him for this man, Cortez, who 
was soon to cause him to repent this folly, and to consume 
his heart in rage and shame. Knowing that the governor 



198 



Mexico. 



would shortly become suspicious of him, Cortez, as soon as 
appointed, made all haste to get on his voyage. " Nothing 
was to be seen or spoken of," says one of the conquerors, 
"but selling lands to purchase arms and horses, quilting 
coats of mail, making bread, and salting pork, for sea 
stores." Volunteers flocked to his standard from every 
direction, and after visiting various points on the island, 
and securing all the available recruits and provisions, Cor- 




tez evaded the officers despatched to arrest him by the now 
jealous Velasquez, and put to sea, taking his final depart- 
ure from the port of Havana on the tenth day of Febru- 
ary, 1519. 

[A.D. 15 19.] After a rough passage, the fleet arrived 
at the island of Cozumel, and here, says one old chronicler, 
" Cortez now began to take the command upon him in 
earnest, and our Lord was pleased to give him grace, that 
whatever he undertook he succeeded in." 

Here he ordered a review of the troops, being now be- 



Forces of Cortez. 199 

yond the reach of Velasquez, and having bidden a final adieu 
to Cuba. He found himself in command of eleven vessels, 
five hundred and eight soldiers, one hundred and ten sail- 
ors, sixteen horses, thirty-two crossbow men, and thirteen 
musketeers. As ordnance, he had ten brass cannon, and 
four falconets, with a large quantity of powder and ball. 
He appointed a brave soldier who had served in Italy, 
Francis de Orosco, as captain of artillery, and Alaminos 
as chief pilot. He divided his men into eleven companies, 
under the command of captains, nearly all of whom be- 
came famous in the subsequent march through Mexico. 
As we shall meet with most of them again, let us see what 
were the names of these men who followed the standard 
of Cortez. There was Alonzo Hernandez Puerto Carrero, 
who took the first ship from Mexico to Spain ; Alonzo de 
Avila, James de Ordas, Francis de Montejo, Francis de 
Morla, Francis de Sancedo, John de Escalante, John Ve- 
lasquez de Leon, Cristobal de Olid, and the brothers Alva- 
rado, chief among whom was the famous, or infamous^ Pe- 
dro de Alvarado. One of the conquerors, in his narrative, 
justly gives a portion of his pages to a detailed description 
of the horses^ which, being the first ever landed on the soil 
of Mexico, aided more than anything else in striking terror 
into the breasts of the Indians. 

Cortez had already surrounded himself with much state 
and ceremony, and had caused a standard to be made of 
gold and velvet, on which was a red cross, embroidered in 
the midst of white and blue flames, and underneath was 
the motto, in Latin, ^^ Let us follow the Cross, and in that 
sign we shall conquer y If we will bear this emblem in 
mind, we shall see that throughout his long career of con- 
quest Cortez was faithful in his devotion to that sign of the 
cross. ■ Even to the wondering, innocent natives, he offered 
the alternative, the cross or the sword; and he gave them 
both. 



200 Mexico. 




UXMAL. 



Pedro de Alvarado's vessel arrived first at Cozumel, that 
beautiful island on the coast of Yucatan, and that unscru- 
pulous adventurer immediately plundered the inhabitants 
and drove them into the woods. Cortez, when he arrived, 
reprimanded him for this, and for sacking the temples, and 
sent out to induce the people to return, who soon came 
back and mingled unsuspiciously with the soldiers. 

There was a temple here, and a large and very hideous 
idol, before which the priests in charge burned incense and 
bowed down in devotion. The island was considered a 
holy place, even by the inhabitants of the mainland, who 
came to it in great processions, as to a holy shrine. Cortez, 
seeing this, determined to convert the natives to the 
true faith by changing their gods, substituting the cross 
and the virgin for the hideous idols. At first, the people 
objected, telling him their gods had always been very 
good to them, sending rain when it was needed, and 
crops of corn to the people of Yucatan, who came over and 
offered gifts at their altars. But Cortez disregarded their 
prayers and predictions of disaster, and cast down the 
idols, telling them they were evil things, and that they 
would draw their souls down to hell, and if they wished to 
remain as brothers to the Spaniards they must " place in 
their stead the crucifix of our Lord, by whose assistance 
they would obtain good harvests and the salvation of their 



Conversion of the Natives. 201 

souls ; with many other good and holy reasons, which he 
expressed very well." Lime was sent for, the Indian ma- 
sons constructed an altar, and the Spanish carpenters a 
crucifix, which was erected in a small chapel (the ruins of 
which, it is said, yet remain). Then the " very reverend 
father," Juan Diaz, preached an excellent discourse, which, 
as it was in Spanish (a language the natives had never 
listened to before in their lives), was received " with great 
attention, and profit to their souls." Thus was a whole 
village of pagans converted into good Christians in a single 
day, — the natives reasoned that, as the Spaniards were 
stronger than they, and evidently favored by unseen powers, 
their god must be more powerful than theirs, and so they 
accepted the Spanish images with joy, carefully swept the 
temple, and attended upon the virgin. 

As a curious circumstance, it is related that the Span- 
iards found these people, not only at Cozumel, but at vari- 
ous other points in this new^ territory, possessed of figures 
of the cross. From this the Spanish ecclesiasts have 
reasoned that these Indians were visited by Saint Thomas, 
during the wanderings of that revered person on earth, and 
received from him this emblem of the cross ; but of this 
event the Indians have preserved no tradition. 

One more allusion to the doings of the Spaniards here, 
and then we have done with Cozumel. Cortez often 
pondered over a question the natives oft repeated to his 
soldiers, when, pointing to the east, they would say 
" Castiliaji^'' as much as to ask if they were Castilians, or 
Spaniards. At last, after much inquiry, he heard, through 
his interpreter Julian — Melchor having died — that there 
were two Spaniards confined in the interior as captives. 
They had been cast upon the eastern shore of Yucatan, 
their vessels wrecked, and all their companions sacrificed 
save they two. Learning this, Cortez despatched a letter 



202 Mexico. 

to them by an Indian runner (who hid it in his hair, having 
to pass through an enemy's country), and a quantity of beads 
as a ransom from their masters. The letter was as follows : 
" Gentlemen and brothers, — Here in Cozumel I have been 
informed that you are detained prisoners by a cacique : I 
request as a favor that you will forthwith join me. I send 
a ship and soldiers, with whatever is necessary for your 
ransom, they have orders to wait eight days ; but come 
with all dispatch to me, from whom you shall receive every 
assistance and protection. I am here with eleven ships 
and five hundred soldiers, with which I will, with the 
assistance of God, proceed to Champotan, Tabasco, and 
beyond." 

Those two captives were named Aguilar and Guerrero. 
The master of the former received the ransom jo}-fully and 
set him free ; but the latter was already married to an 
Indian woman, had three sons and was a great cacique 
and captain in their wars. Indeed, it is said that he con- 
ducted that bloody fight against Cordova, at Champotan. 
He was afraid to return to the Spaniards ; and, moreover, 
his face was scarred and his ears and nose bored, after 
the Indian fashion. 

" What would the Spaniards think of me," he said to 
Aguilar, " if I went back among them ? Behold these three 
beautiful boys ; I beseech you give me for them some of 
these green beads, and say that my brother sent them as 
a present to me from my own country." Then his wife 
joined in and abused Aguilar for wishing her husband to 
leave his family, and the poor fellow was only too glad to 
go on to the coast alone. 

When he reached the coast the boat that had been left 
behind for him had departed. To his great jo}^, however, 
the fleet was obliged to put back to Cozumel, one of the 
vessels having sprung a leak, and he got into a canoe and 



The Rescued Spaniards. 203 

paddled across the channel to the island, where he met 
them. He had been so long in captivity that he could not 
be distinguished from the Indians who had come with him, 
and at first could only utter a few Spanish words, such as 
Dios (God) and Santa Maria. He had only a fewlrags 
about his waist, an oar in his hand, and the remains of an 
old book of prayers tied up in a bundle on his shoulder- 
When he came into the presence of the company he squatted 
on his hams, like the Indians, and every one was looking in 
vain for the Spaniard, when in answer to an inquiry he 
said, " Here he is," and was received with gladness, clothed 
and fed. He was subsequently of the utmost service to 
the Spaniards, being for a while their only means of 
communication with the natives. Cortez was not mistaken 
in the value he set upon such an acquisition, nor in having 
delayed the fleet in order to secure him. 

As the fleet arrived off Champotan, a boat was sent 
ashore, and there they were welcomed by the greyhound 
that had been accidentally left there the year before by 
Grijalva. On the 13th of March they arrived off the 
mouth of the river Tabasco, or Grijalva, one of the largest 
that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Knowing that the 
larger vessels could not approach near land, Cortez sent a 
large body of troops in boats to land about half a league 
from the town of Tabasco. The Tabascans, who had 
before received Grijalva so hospitably, had been reproached 
by their neighbors, the Champotanese (and perhaps incited 
by messengers from Montezuma), with cowardice in not 
attacking these strangers on their first visit. At all events, 
Cortez found his advance obstructed by above twelve 
thousand armed Indians in canoes. They threatened the 
Spaniards with death if they persisted in their intention of 
visiting their town, which they had fortified with palisades. 
Cortez then, displaying the policy for which he was always 



204 Mexico. 

noted, requested permission, through the new interpreter 
Aguilar, to land to procure wood and water, and to speak 
with their caciques, to whom he had " matters of the greatest 
importance, and of a holy natu7'e, to communicate ; but 
to this they only replied in the same manner as before." 

The next morning, after mass, Cortez approached to land 
his men, when the enemy in canoes sallied out from the 
mangroves along the banks in prodigious numbers and 
making a fearful din with their horns and trumepts. See- 
ing this, Cortez ordered a halt, and then, demanding the 
Indians to give their attention, he caused the royal notary 
to read a requisition for them to supply the Spaniards with 
wood and water and to lay down their arms and become 
good Christians, and to allow the priests to land and speak 
to them concerning the service of God. If ' they should 
refuse this reasonable request, which was made in the king's 
name, then they would be responsible for all the mischief 
that resulted. This was read in Spanish and amidst the 
din and tumult of the horns and timbrels, so that it is pos- 
sible that the Indians heard nothing of it, and if they did 
certainly did not understand a word. But it mattered not 
to Cortez, he had complied with the law, he was not fight- 
ing to please the Indians so much as to justify himself as 
an apostle of the faith in the eyes of the king and prelates 
in Spain. The old historian seemed astonished that the 
Indians paid no attention to this royal and ecclesiastical 
mandate. " All. this," he says, "being duly explained to 
them, produced 7io effect; they seemed as determined to 
oppose us as they were before." Having satisfied his con- 
science in this way, and having in this manner thrown all 
the blame of the affair upon the ignorant Indians, Cortez 
then unfurled his banner, with its cheerful emblem of 
torment, the blue and white flames, and ordered his soldiers 
to " at them, and show the unchristian dogs no mercy." 



The Great Fight at Tabasco. 205 

You may be very sure that he and his soldiers were 
very much provoked at the obduracy of these heathens, 
who so ungratefully refused his generous offer of a new 
king, whom they had never heard of, to rule over them. 
And how indignant these pious soldiers must have been at 
such heretics who scorned their offer of new images to 
worship in place of their old ones, and added insult to 
injury by telling them that their old gods were good enough 
for them, and they only wished the Spaniards would sail 
away and leave them in peace ! This, in the eyes of 
the horror-stricken priests, was blasphemy of the worst 
nature; these holy men washed their hands of such impious 
wretches, and adjured the soldiers to do their best to wipe 
them from the face of the earth. And they did ! Though 
the Tabascans fought valiantly, attacking them with arrows 
and lances, yet they were gradually driven back, until the 
Spaniards were in possession of their town. They defended 
barricade after barricade, whistling and shouting to one 
another — al calachioni — "kill the captain," well knowing 
the disastrous effect such a result would have upon the 
strangers. They left many dead upon the field, but never 
turned their backs upon the enemy, retreating face to the 
foe, until their town, and temples, and idols, were finally 
captured. 

When the town was gained, Cortez took possession of 
the country in the name of his majesty, the King of Spain, 
— a disreputable monarch of a country thousands of miles 
away, whom the Tabascans had never heard of. And 
making three cuts with his sword in a great silk-cotton tree, 
the commander claimed the whole country for his sovereign, 
saying that, against any one who denied this claim, he was 
ready to defend it with the sword and shield he then held. 
Nobody offered any objection, because the soldiers believed 
as he did : that the land belonged to them and the king 



■ 2o6 - Mexico. 

they served ; and the poor Indians, strange to say, did not 
understand that the making of three sword-cuts in a ceiba 
tree gave these strangers a clear right and title to the 
country they and their ancestors had held from time imme- 
moiial ! Being brave men, they resolved to resent this 
intrusion of an armed force into their territory, and on the 
morrow a terrible battle ensued. Seeing that the Indians 
were likely to press them hard, if not indeed drive them to 
their ships, Cortez ordered out the horses. These animals 
were very stiff from their long confinement on board the 
vessels, but in the course of the day they recovered their 
spirits and agility. Each one was furnished with a breast- 
plate with bells hanging to it, and they were given to the 
best horsemen in the army. Marching out upon a plain 
beyond the town, the Spanish army saw a great host in 
front of them, sounding horns and trumpets, with plumes, 
on their heads, their faces painted in red, white, and black, 
defended by quilted-cotton breastplates and shields, and 
armed with two-handed swords, darts, and slings. They 
fell upon the Spaniards with such fury that soon seventy of 
them were wounded and two of them killed. Nor were 
they deterred by the sharp swords of their enemy, which 
made such terrible wounds in their naked bodies, nor by 
the crossbows, and musketry and cannon, though they 
had never heard the thunder of these dreadful weapons 
before in their lives. Brave men, were these Indians of 
Tabasco, as indeed were all the Indians of that country of 
Mexico. Though believing that those black-mouthed can- 
non, which spit at them smoke and fire, and tore such awful 
gaps in their crowded ranks, were engines of destruction 
sent by the deities of another world, they valiantly stood 
their ground. At every discharge they threw up straw and 
dust to hide their terrible losses, and shouted back defiance. 
It would have fared hard with the invaders if the cavalry 



The First Horses in Mexico, 207 

had not come to their rehef, and Cortez and his little 
squadron come charging down upon the Indians. It was 
the first time these Indians had ever seen a horse, and 
when those great animals, larger than any that roamed their 
forests, came thundering down upon them, they gave one 
great shout of terror and amazement and fled in wild dis- 
order. They believed, as they afterwards stated, that horse 
and rider were one animal, and sent by the avenging deities 
to complete their destruction. 

What wonder that they fled ! Fancy ourselves in their 
position, battling at fearful odds against an army encased 
in mail and armed with the powers of thunder and lightning ; 
while every nerve is strained, and every energy called into 
play against this strong enemy, suddenly another appears, 
a strange beast, a centaur, clad in steel and breathing death 
upon all within its reach ! Think you we should not use 
great expedition in getting beyond its reach ? Eight hun- 
dred of the Indian army lay dead upon the field, and a still 
greater number dragged their mutilated bodies away to 
perish in the seclusion of the forest ! In this manner did 
Cortez punish these wicked people for resisting the embas- 
sadors of a king they did not know, and for refusing a 
religion they did not understand ! They came in humbly, 
the chiefs with their followers, and craved pardon for their 
temerity in having tried to defend their homes from assas- 
sins and thieves, their wives from dishonor, their children 
from slavery ! They begged permission to bury their dead, 
so that the wild beasts should not devour them, and bring- 
ing abundance of provisions, promised to become obedient 
vassals of the new king. 

Cortez, says one of the historians of that time, " assumed 
a grave countenance, told them they deserved death for 
their neglect of our former offers of peace, but that 
our great monarch, Don Carlos, had enjoined us to favor 



2o8 Mexico, 

them so far as they should deserve it ; and in case of their 
adopting a bad hne of conduct, they should again feel the 
effect of our vengeance." Then followed another of those 
wholesale conversions ; the Indians renounced their idols, 
and were received into the bosom of the holy Catholic 
church. And thenceforth they were to be under the loving 
care of the priests, and the cherished children of the King 
of Spain ; in return for which they were only called upon 
to give the priests and soldiers all their property, all their 
gold, all their handsome maidens, all their strong young 
men. The Spaniards had found them freemen, living 
happily in their primitive villages in the forest ; they left 
them slaves, stripped of all possessions, bleeding from a 
thousand wounds, and lamenting a thousand deaths. 

It has been said by at least one historian that the Span- 
iards were assisted by one of the saints that day, the war- 
like apostle St. James, who rode a dappled horse, and 
charged the unregenerate heathen right valiantly. If this 
be true, it should but increase our sympathy for the poor 
Indians, for what with the cannon, horse, and musketr}' 
of the Spaniards, the odds were sufficiently against them 
without the intervention of apostolic aid. 



From Tabasco to Cempoalla. 209 



CHAPTER XV. 

FROM TABASCO TO CEMPOALLA. 

Through the inscrutable workings of God's will, Cortez 
received at Tabasco, from a source wholly unexpected, a 
most important auxiliary to his force, without which indeed 
the conquest would have been impossible. To propitiate 
the Spaniards, and to obtain pardon of them for having 
defended their homes, the Tabascans gave them what gold 
and cotton cloth the province afforded ; and further, seeing 
that the conquerors desired female servants, they pre- 
sented the captains with twenty Indian women. These 
Cortez refused to receive until they had been baptized, and 
until the " reverend father, Bartolome Olmedo, had preached 
to them many good things touching our holy faith." Then 
these unfortunate Indian women, " the first Christian 
women in New Spain," were divided among the captains, 
Cortez retaining a young girl of noble birth, beauty, and 
great spirit, who was baptized under the name of Dona 
Marina. From this time to the end of the conquest, this 
noble girl accompanied Cortez on all his expeditions, serv- 
ing as counsellor and interpreter, clinging to him with 
affection and love, though degraded by him to the lowest 
position woman can occupy in the eyes of the world. She 
was the daughter of a noble of Goazcoalcos, who died while 
she was very young and left her in charge of her mother. 
This inhuman parent married another noble, and they, 
having a son whom they wished to have their inheritance, 
sold the young girl to a party of slave traders on their way 



210 Mexico. 

to Tabasco. Thus, by a singular conjunction of circum- 
stances, was a subject of the Mexican crown delivered into 
the possession of the Spaniards ; one who contributed 
more than all their armies to its subjugation. Possessed 
of more than ordinary intelligence, she rapidly acquired 
the Spanish language, and as she spoke at the time of her 
joining the Spaniards the Mexican dialect and that of 
Tabasco, the Maya, she formed, with the rescued Aguilar, 
the link in the chain necessary to conversation with the 
Mexicans. 

[A.D. 15 19.] Leaving Tabasco on Palm Sunday, after 
a most solemn procession of the army, with music and 
song, the soldiers carrying palm branches, the fleet arrived 
at San Juan de Ulua on Holy Thursday ; and here their 
sea voyage terminated. The next day the cavalry, infantry, 
and artillery were disembarked on the sand-hills, an altar 
was raised, and temporary barracks constructed for the 
troops. They had hardly dropped anchor when two large 
canoes came out to them, containing messengers from the 
governor of that province, offering them assistance if they 
needed it in the prosecution of their voyage. In communi- 
cating their message it was necessary to employ three lan- 
guages and two interpreters ; first. Dona Marina explained 
to Aguilar what the Mexicans said, translating it into the 
Maya tongue, and then Aguilar converted it into Spanish. 

A day or two later two governors of that portion of the 
coast made their appearance, accompanied by a great train 
of attendants. By this time, with the assistance of the In- 
dians, huts had been constructed for all the troops, and 
cannon planted to defend their first nucleus of a colony in 
New Spain. 

They brought provisions and many things in gold and 
feathers. Cortez invited them to dine with him, and dur- 
ing the repast highly extolled his monarch, Don Carlos, 



Gifts fro7n Montezuma. 211 

who, he said, was the mightiest in the world, and he de- 
manded of the embassadors how soon he could march into 
the interior and dehver his embassy to their own king, 
Montezuma. The two Mexican lords were astonished, as 
well as offended, at the impudence of this audacious leader 
of a band of vagrants, that he should speak so lightly of 
his sacred majesty, Montezuma, and one of them, the lord 
Teuhtlile, haughtily replied : "How is this ? You are but 
just arrived, and yet you talk of seeing our monarch. I 
have listened with pleasure to what you have told me con- 
cerning the grandeur and bounty of your sovereign ; but, 
know ye, our king is not less bountiful and great. I rather 
wonder that there should exist another in the world more 
powerful than he ; but as you assert it I will make it known 
to my sovereign, from whose goodness I trust that he will 
not only have pleasure in receiving intelligence of that 
great prince, but will likewise do honor to his embassador. 
Accept, in the meantime, this present which I offer you in 
his name." Thereupon, the Mexican lord presented Cor- 
tez with some beautifully wrought pieces of gold, ten loads 
of fine cotton mantles, and a great supply of provisions. 

In return, — and how it disgusts one to read of the paltry 
baubles the Spaniards, these adventurers who boasted so 
loudly of the magnificence of their sovereign, sent in 
returji, — Cortez gave the Mexican an old arm-chair, 
painted and carved, some glass beads and a crimson cap 
with a gold medal on it representing St. George killing the 
dragon ! These, this impudent braggart, in a grandilo- 
quent speech, begged the embassador he would present 
the great Montezuma in the name of the King of Spain, 
and at the same time request him to name a time when he 
could wait on him. 

One of the soldiers had on a gilded helmet, which the 
embassador observed resembled one upon the head of 



212 Mexico. 

their idol, Huitzilopochtli, and requested permission to 
take it to the capital to show Montezuma. Cortez at once 
gave it to him, adding — with a meanness unparalleled in 
history — that it would be a capital thing if Montezuma 
would return it, filled with gold, that the Spaniards might 
be able to compare it with the gold of their own country, 
and also as an acceptable present to their emperor. 

Lord Teuhtlile then took his departure, promising to 
return in a short time with Montezuma's reply, while the 
other lord, Ciiitlalpitoc, remained, to keep the Spanish army 
supplied with provisions. 

What was the state of affairs at the Mexican court during 
the while their eastern coasts were vexed with wars and 
rumors of wars and their vessels trafficking with strange 
beings from over the sea ? By referring to the tenth chapter, 
(pp. 137-140) we shall recall to mind the demoralized condi- 
tion of the people of Anahuac, and the consternation 
amongst their rulers at the coming of the winged ships and 
the bearded men. Upon the arrival of Juan de Grijalva, in 
the previous year, the governor of the coast province had 
sent immediate notice to the Aztec capital ; they had 
caused hasty paintings to be made by their artists, of the 
boats and men, and had followed them to court with a 
more detailed descripton. Upon the reception of 'this 
alarming news, Montezuma had hastily assembled the two 
allied kings, Cacamatzin of Tezcoco, and Cuitlahuatzin 
lord of Iztapalapan. Long and anxiously they debated 
upon this mysterious visitation, and at last came to the 
unanimous conclusion that he who commanded this great 
army could be no other than Qiietzalcoatl, god of the air — 
the " Plumed Serpent," who had, according to tradition, 
departed from' their coast, ages ago, leaving behind him 
the promise to return and conclude the beneficent reign he 
had begun so happily in the time of the Toltecs. 



Consternation of the Aztecs, 213 

Dominated by priestly superstitions, Montezuma was 
filled with a dread of the coming of this lord of the air, 
yet he devoutly believed in the truth of the tradition, and 
was ready to yield up his kingdom upon his arrival. Those 
kings held themselves to be but the viceroys of that deity 
and trustees of the crown, which they were to cede to him- 
whenever he should make his appearance and demand it 
The great size of the " winged canoes " of the Spaniards, 
the loud noise and destructive force of their artillery, so 
closely resembling the thunder-laden clouds of the air, 
all these things combined to awe them and inspire them 
with the belief that the god of the air had finally arrived. 
Having come to this determination, Montezuma ordered 
five persons of his court to hasten to the coast with a large 
and magnificent present for the supposed deity, and to offer 
him homage in his name and to congratulate him upon his 
safe, though long-deferred arrival. At the same time, he 
ordered sentinels to be placed upon the mountains over- 
looking the coast, with swift messengers to convey him 
tidings of the movements of the fleet. 

Unfortunately for the Mexicans, the court embassadors, 
though they made every exertion, did not overtake Grijalva, 
who sailed northward as far as the river Panuco, and thence 
made passage for Cuba. Unfortunately^ say we, because 
Grijalva was a humane man, whose desire for conquest, gold, 
and glory was tempered by a love of justice. We have 
every reason to believe that, had it fallen to his lot to have 
undertaken the subjugation of this Mexican empire, it would 
have been done without the shedding of blood and the sacri- 
fice of life that attended the invasion of Cortez. 

The embassy had returned to Anahuac, and those per- 
sonages who had met Cortez were simply governors of the 
province, tributary to Montezuma. Before his departure 
from the coast, Teuhtlile, who had numerous painters with 



214 



Mexico. 



him, divided the subject among them so that each one 
represented a different portion of the armament, and in this 
manner Montezuma received a description, perfect in every 
detail, of tlie wonders he was to relate to him. Desiring 
that they should omit nothing that would impress the 
emperor with the grandeur and power of his armament, 
Cortez ordered the cavalry to manoeuvre upon the beach 
and the artillery to be fired. When they had somewhat 
recovered from the stupor of amazement into which the 
roar of the cannon and the crashing of the balls through the 
trees had thrown them, the painters set themselves diligently 
to work to represent this new wonder upon canvas. Then 
they departed, bearing the miserable present and the 
boastful message of Cortez to their expectant emperor. 

After seven or eight days of waiting, the Spaniards saw a 
long procession of Indians filing down the sand dunes ; 
there were the embassadors of Montezuma borne in litters 
upon the shoulders of attendants and upwards of one hun- 
dred men laden with rich presents for the Spaniards. 

The distance from coast to capital, at the present day 
by rail, is two hundred and sixty miles ; but doubtless the 
Aztecs had shorter paths by which their messengers trav- 
elled and the distance may have been two hundred miles. 
If we may believe the accounts related of the couriers of 
Montezuma, they were incredibly swift ; along the line of 
travel were stations with relays of runners and by this means 
a message was borne along from post to post with the speed 
of the mail-coach of old. The story often told of Monte- 
zuma's receiving fish fresh from the Gulf every day, by 
means of these runners, may well be doubted, and is only 
believed in by those credulous authors who have never vis- 
ited the country ; but, it is doubtless true that news sped fast 
in those days, by the means above mentioned. Whether it 
was seven days later, or ten, it matters not ; the embassa- 



Treasures for Royalty. 215 

dors had returned and with them had brought such a 
present for the Spanish monarch, Don Carlos, as never 
before had passed from one hemisphere to another ! 

On their arrival they touched the ground with their hands, 
at the same time kissing them, and then fumigated the 
Spaniards with incense, calling them Teteuctin — lords or 
gentlemen. This, the customary mode of salutation of 
embassadors, caused the Spaniards to imagine they 
addressed them as gods — Teules, from Teteo^ gods — when 
they had meant nothing of the kind, and gave these 
cut-throat adventurers an exalted opinion of their own 
importance. 

With fine compliments, conveying from Montezuma his 
congratulations, and the pleasure he had received in learn- 
ing of the arrival of such a brave body of men on his coast, 
the embassador begged Cortez to receive this present from 
his emperor, as a slight return for the very valuable (?) gifts 
he had sent him on the occasion of his first visit. Having 
delivered himself of a speech to this effect, consisting of long 
and high-sounding words — for diplomacy was a fine art at 
the court of Montezuma — the embassador caused some 
mantles to be spread upon the ground and the Indians to 
lay upon them their precious burdens. It may be justly 
imagined that the Spaniards gazed upon these treasures in 
open-mouthed astonishment. There were elegant works in 
gold and silver, gems, gold carved in the shape of various 
animals, bales of the finest cotton garments interwoven 
with bright feathers, bows and arrows, ten collars of fine 
gold, plumes of feathers cast in gold, panaches of green 
and gorgeous feathers, and numberless wrought and other 
figures in gold. The~ most glorious gifts were two great 
disks, as large as a cart-wheel, one of gold, representing 
the sun, the other of silver, having an engraved image of 
the moon. And last, there was the helmet, filled, — accord- 



2i6 Mexico. 

ing to the base suggestion of Cortez, — with glittering 
grains of gold, thought to be of the value alone of three 
thousand crowns ! The intrinsic value of the golden wheel, 
without reference to its exquisite workmanship, was held to 
be more than twenty thousand crowns ! 

After these had been spread before Cortez, the Mexican 
made another short speech, in which he spoke of the 
pleasure it gave his king to contribute this portion of his 
treasure as a gift to their sovereign ; at the same time, in 
the politest manner possible, he begged them to depart 
from the coast to the land whence they came, as soon as 
they had recovered from the fatigues of the voyage. Cortez 
was greatly rejoiced at the present, but mortified at this 
refusal of permission to visit the capital, still, he kept a 
pleasant countenance and told the embassador that he 
should insist upon his original intention of visiting Monte- 
zuma in person, and delivering him the message he pre- 
tended to have from his king. Then he gave in return for 
this magnificent tribute, which would have been a costly 
ransom for a king, three holland shirts and a glass cup I 

How Teuhtlile's lip must have curled, and with what a 
sinking of the heart must he have reflected upon this waste 
of treasure, sent by his generous monarch to be cast before 
such swine as these ! 

He coldly promised to send the message to Montezuma, 
and at the end of a number of days brought his answer. 
He this time sent more gold, ten loads of mantles and four 
rare jewels like emeralds, each one of which was considered 
worth a load of gold ! 

This time the Aztec emperor's orders were peremptory, 
that the strangers should not be allowed to advance 
farther into the territory with his consent, and that all 
intercourse with them by the natives should be sus- 
pended. Montezuma's eyes were now open to the true 



Montezuma s Eyes are Operied. 21 J 

character of the invaders. Gods of the air no longer were 
they now to him. Intelligence must have reached him by 
this time of their cruel acts in Tabasco, of their insatiable 
lust, of their low-born manners and total lack of all gener- 
ous feelings. These were not the attributes of gods, that 
they displayed ! 

Some of the Spanish writers would have us believe that 
Montezuma consulted his gods, making sacrifices to them 
of tender children, and they commanded him to repel the 
invaders. But it seems more probable that he now saw the 
error into which his superstition had led him, and if he 
still believed in the coming of Quetzakoatl, he was now 
assured that the peace-loving god would not come in the 
guise of these bloody-minded adventurers. In his total 
ignorance of another country than that of Mexico and its 
contiguous territory, he was puzzled to explain their origin, 
and hence was easily led to accept the popular tradition. 
No, these were not the emissaries of the Feathered Serpent, 
of the Prince of Peace ; he would have nothing further to 
do with them. Yet his generous nature — generous in 
great things, despite the fact that his treasure was accumu- 
lated through the oppressions of his suffering subjects — 
refused to let the strangers go without a show of hospitality, 
and a gift for that monarch they pretended had sent them 
on this mission. Hence it was that he would dismiss them 
loaded with favors, and that he would sever all connection 
between them and his subjects. Ill-fated, short-sighted 
monarch ! He mistook the natures of the beings he was 
dealing with; he had thought them at least sensible to 
generous treatment, while they were in fact strangers to 
every sentiment of the kind ! He had not reflected upon 
the consequences of such a display of the wealth of his 
kingdom upon these men whose god was gold, whose creed 
was as bloody as that of the Aztecs in their palmiest days. 



2 1 8 Mexico. 

In sending them this treasure he inflamed their bosoms 
with a common sentiment, an unquenchable desire to see 
more of this kingdom in the mountains and to put its 
inhabitants to the sword, that they might possess them- 
selves of its wealth. 

On to Mexico ! was the cry that now passed from mouth 
to mouth of these brave, though unprincipled men. 

The following day the Spaniards found themselves in a 
strait, for there was not an Indian remaining of all the 
thousands that had come to them for barter and had been 
busy supplymg them with provisions. Their bread was 
mouldy, and their sailors were kept busy fishing in the bay 
to keep starvation from their doors. Why did not Monte- 
zuma pour down upon them at this time with the forces of 
his empire ? It is very certain that had he done so he 
could have swept them out of existence, or have driven 
them from his coast in dismay. But Providence, says an 
an ancient historian, " preserved them to become the in- 
struments of his views in that new world." "We do not 
mean," he adds, " to justify the design and conduct of the 
conquerors, but neither can we avoid tracing in the series 
of the conquest the destiny which prepared the ruin of that 
empire." 

Indeed, if we will look back for a moment over the 
events that seemed to have contributed to the peculiar 
successes of Cortez we shall almost be tempted to accept 
these conclusions of that historian — that Cortez and his 
cut-throats were special instruments in the hands of 
Providence for the destruction of the empire. We have 
already seen that the country was vexed with unpro- 
pitious signs and omens, which had hardly disappeared 
from the sky when the news reached the Mexican 
court that Grijalva was upon the coast ; this eminent navi- 
gator, by his kind and judicious treatment of the Indians, 



The Totonacs of Cempoalla. 219 

strengthened the prevailing opinion that the next arrivals 
were in reality the children of the God of the air. By 
a most fortuitous accident the Spanish captive, Aguilar, 
was rescued from the Indians of Yucatan, and thus a 
means of communication opened with the Tabascans, and, 
through the wonderful acquisition of Marina, with the 
Mexicans themselves. A most astonishing series of cir- 
cumstances had thus operated in his favor. Is it improb- 
able that Cortez should have looked upon these events as 
special dispensations of the Almighty in his behalf ? 

Their provisions were low and of poor quality, the 
mosquitoes were pestering them night and day, thirty or 
forty of their number were sick from their wounds, and 
there was a strong party, the friends and relations of 
Velasquez in particular, who were anxious to return to 
Cuba, and tried tD excite a mutiny against the authority 
of Cortez. But by putting some in irons, and pacifying 
others with gold, he won the majority over to his side, and 
they soon chose to remain and retain him as their general, 
independent of Velasquez. It would probably have been 
death to Cortez to return to Cuba at this time, for he had 
neither the favor of the governor nor of his sovereign. It 
was while these quarrels were going on among the 
Spaniards, snarling over their captures like wolves in a 
sheepfold, that another of those aids in the propulsion of 
the army towards the capital came to hand. Some Indians 
one day approached them, and stated that they were of a 
province subject to Montezuma, but that their cacique 
wished to throw off his allegiance and ally himself with the 
strangers. They were Totonacs^ who, you will remember, 
were subjugated by the Aztecs not many years before — 
being among the last acquisitions by the Mexican crown. 
The cruelties and exactions of the Aztecs had turned their 
hearts from them, for they not only demanded tribute of 



220 Mexico. 

their wealth but a certain number of their children yearly 
to sacrifice on the altars of Anahuac. Intrigue was 
always welcome to the Spanish commander, and he prom- 
ised them assistance in throwing off the Mexican yoke, and 
to shortly visit their town of Ce7iipoalla. Meanwhile he 
found a better location for a settlement farther north, and 
there they removed with their ships and laid the founda- 
tions of a city, which they called La Villa Rica de la Vera 
Cruz — the Rich City of the True Cross, This name is 
applied to the present city of Vera Cruz, which was subse- 
quently removed to the situation it now occupies, at the 
point of the first landing, opposite the island of San Juan 
de Ulua. The first things they erected in the new city 
were a gallows and an altar ; magistrates were created at 
the instigation of Cortez, to whom he resigned his com- 
mand, but was immediately re-invested with it, in the 7iame 
of the ki?tg, for whom this colony was now planted. In 
this way the cunning Cortez shook himself free from his 
dependence upon Velasquez. 

Then the little army marched towards Cempoalla, which 
was several leagues from the coast ; when within a league 
of the town they were met by some of the principal men, 
who presented the officers with fragrant flowers, and 
begged them to excuse their cacique from coming out to re- 
ceive them, as he was so fat and unwieldy as to be unable 
to do so. He sent, however, an invitation for them to 
enter, which Cortez accepted with thanks. 

This town being the first of any extent, built of hewn 
stone and plastered with lime, that the Spaniards entered, 
they were greatly astonished at what they saw there. One 
of the horsemen, having penetrated to the great square, 
came flying back at the top of his speed, and in great 
excitement, crying out that the walls of the public buildings 
were all of silver/ But when the army entered the centre 



The White-walled City. 223 

of the town they found that these " silver walls " were only 
polished plaster glistening white in the sun. They were 
assigned quarters, the inhabitants of Cempoalla treating 
them to fruits and flowers, baskets of plums, and bread of 
corn. The town was so large, clean, and beautiful, with its 
white-walled dwellings and temples, its gardens and planta- 
tions, that the soldiers compared it with Seville, in Spain. 
The cacique shortly waited on Cortez, dressed in rich 
mantles and ornaments of gold, and ordered a present to 
be made hita of gold and mantles. It did not take long to 
find out that what the Indians had told them on the 
sands — that these people were tired of Montezuma's 
exactions — was perfectly true. The next day the army 
continued its march to the shore, to a point whither the 
vessels had preceded them, and the cacique furnished them 
with four hundred men of burden to carry their baggage. 
This, they had found, was a custom of the country : for every 
cacique through whose territory a stranger passed to 
furnish, without pay, sufficient men to convey his effects or 
merchandise a certain distance. At a town called Chia- 
hiiitzla^ situated upon a steep and rocky hill, about three 
miles from the coast, the lord of that town and the lord of 
Cempoalla held conference with Cortez as to the advisa- 
bility of throwing off the yoke of Montezuma. Just at 
this juncture there entered the town five Mexican nobles, 
tribute collectors for the king, who marched proudly by 
with a great retinue, with their noses in the air, not deigning 
to bestow even a glance upon Cortez and his soldiers. 
They were dressed in elegantly embroidered mantles and 
drawers, wore their hair gathered in a shining knot at the 
top of the head, and carried in their hands bunches of roses, 
"which they occasionally smelled to." The lords were 
struck with terror, and deserted Cortez, hastening to 
prepare lodgings and cups of chocolate for the royal tax 



224 Mexico. 

collectors. These nobles reprimanded them severely for 
holding intercourse with the Spaniards, after their great 
lord, Montezuma, had especially forbidden it, and demanded 
twenty men and women to be sent to Mexico and sacrificed 
in expiation of their offence. 

The poor lords were in great trouble, so well they knew 
what Montezuma's displeasure meant; but at the instiga- 
tion of Cortez they threw the officers into prison and 
whipped one that continued refractory. By this act they 
had openly committed themselves as rebels to Montezuma, 
which was just what the wily Cortez desired. Having got 
the poor chief into this dilemma, he secretly liberated the 
imprisoned officers, protesting that it was the Cempoallans 
that had done this, that he was their friend and that of 
their king, and sending them away with their ears full of 
lies and in the belief that he was greatly displeased with 
what had happened. 

In the morning he manifested great displeasure at the 
guards who had allowed the prisoners to escape, and by 
his double dealing not only impressed the Totonacs with 
the idea that he was going to liberate them all from the 
thraldom of Montezuma, but the latter monarch with the 
belief that he was acting in his interests. In truth, while 
Cortez was stirring up rebellion and acquiring all the peo- 
ple of the coast provinces as allies, Montezuma sent him an 
embassy with a very rich present and thanks for his civility 
to his officers ; but cautioning him to beware of the Totonacs, 
whom he would soon punish as they deserved. If he had 
but persisted in his original intention of sending a large 
army to wipe out the Spaniards, how different might have 
been the story of Mexico's history ! 

The fat cacique, desiring to cement the friendship now 
existing between the Spaniards and his people, desired to 
present Cortez and his officers with eight ladies, all of the 



Destruction of Idols. 225 

first families of the place, ornamented with gold collars and 
earrings and attended by female slaves. These, Cortez 
said he would accept if they would renounce their old 
religion and be baptized into that of the Spaniards. He 
went further even than this, and proposed to the cacique 
the entire destruction of his gods. The cacique and the 
priests objected and finally attempted to resist ; but the 
Spaniards collected their forces, and about fifty of them 
rushed up the steps of the temple and hurled down the hid- 
eous idols contained therein. Then the priests, who had 
charge of the temple, were shorn of their long and blood- 
matted hair, and a cross and an image of the virgin being 
set up in place of the other idols, they were instructed in 
the new faith by the Reverend Father Olmedo. An old 
soldier, lame from wounds, was appointed to reside in the 
temple as a hermit ; the priests were taught how to make 
wax candles, to be brought before the new image, and thus 
this people brought out from the darkness of idolatry into 
the light of a new religion. They were now firm allies of 
Cortez, for they had imprisoned the officers of Montezuma, 
and insulted his gods ; the power of the strangers alone 
could prevent them from being exterminated. 



226 Mexico. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE SHIPS AND MARCH INLAND. 

Before the overthrow of the idols, Cortez had taken 
measures for the founding of a city on the coast which 
should be a strong fortress to hold the Totonacs to their 
allegiance to him, a nucleus for a colony, a post of defence 
for any new troops that might arrive, and a place of refuge 
to which to retreat in case of need. It was built on a 
plain lying at the foot of the mountain of Chiahuitzla, 
about twelve miles north of Cempoalla. 

The first vessel that ever sailed from Mexico to Spain 
direct left this port shortly after, in command of Captain 
Alonzo Puertocarrero and Francisco Montejo, on the six- 
teenth of July, 15 19. It was sent by Cortez to carry 
letters to his king, asking that he be confirmed in his ofiice 
of general and chief magistrate, and contained the gold, 
silver, gems and mantles, sent to him by Montezuma. Not 
only had Cortez succeeded, by bribes and flattery, in 
inducing the soldiers to relinquish their share of this great 
treasure for the king, but they had written a letter, praying 
that his royal highness would bestow upon their commander 
those honors which the Governor of Cuba, Velasquez, was 
entitled to by royal favor. After describing the country 
and people they had discovered, the battles they had 
fought, and the great service they were doing his majesty 
in bringing these idolatrous Indians to a knowledge of the 
true religion, the letters went on to state, "We are four 
hundred and fifty soldiers, surrounded by hosts of enemies, 



The March into the Interior. 227 

and ready to lay down our lives for the service of God and 
his majesty ; and we supplicate that his majesty will not 
bestow the government of so great and rich a country, 
which deserves to be ruled by a great prince or lord, upon 
any unworthy person." 

Two days only after their agent had departed, a plot was 
formed among a few of the soldiers and sailors to seize 
one of the small vessels and escape to Cuba. It was dis- 
covered, two soldiers were immediately hanged, the feet of 
the pilot were cut off, and the sailors were given two 
hundred lashes each. 

Foreseeing that this was but the first of what might prove a 
long list of desertions, Cortez came to the determination to 
prevent all such in the future by an act so bold and despe- 
rate as to compel the admiration of even his enemies. 
After secretly advising with his pilots and some of his 
soldiers he resolved to destroy his ships, and thus effectu- 
ally prevent his men from leaving the enemy's country. 
This was done, the vessels were run on shore, the sails, 
anchors, rigging, etc., carefully housed in the port; and 
thus were five hundred men left without means of escape, 
in a country swarming with enemies whom they must 
conquer or perish in the attempt. 

There is, says an English writer, " no equal to this act 
in history ; " it stamps these adventurers as brave men, 
their leader as one to whom cowardice was a stranger; 
there was not a craven in the army. 

Juan de Escalante, a valiant man, was left in charge of 
a small company, principally sailors converted into soldiers, 
who formed the garrison of the new city, while Cortez and 
the main army took up its march into the interior. Arrived 
again at Cempoalla, Cortez renewed his injunctions to the 
cacique to take good care of the cross and the image he 
had left in the temple, and recommending Escalante and 



228 Mexico. 

Ills companions to his protection, commenced his circuitous 
approach to the Mexican capital. 

[A. D. 15 19.] It was on the sixteenth of August that 
Cortez set out to leave the coast finally behind him. He 
had four hundred and fifteen Spanish infantry, sixteen 
horses, some Totonac troops, forty nobles of that province, 
and four hundred men of burden to carry the baggage and 
drag the artillery. 

It was mentioned at the beginning of this book, that 
Mexico contained three well-defined zones of climate and 
vegetation, which one might pass through on his way from 
the coast to the great plateau where the Mexican capital 
was situated. Along the coast it is very hot, and the cli- 
mate is tropical — this is the tierra calie?ite, or " hot coun- 
try ; " next, as you advance into the mountains, you enter 
the temperate country, the tierra templada, at an eleva- 
tion above the sea of 3,000 to 4,000 feet ; last, is the 
cold country — tierra fria — situated above an elevation 
of 7,000 feet. Through all these zones, with their varying 
types of vegetation and their changes of climate, the army 
of Cortez was to march on its way to the capital. With 
gladness, it may be presumed, they turned their backs upon 
the hot coast country, swarming with insects and stricken 
with fevers, and entered the hills that led up to the vine 
and forest-clad mountains of the tierra templada. On their 
second day's march they reached '^Xalapa, a. place where 
there exists to-day a town of the same name — Jalapa 
— celebrated for its green valleys and oak-crowned hills. 
Beyond this region, still climbing, they entered the great 
plains, crossing some forbidding mountains, where the 
temperature was very cold, and the soldiers, and the 
Indians of the hot country — especially those of Cuba — 

* X or J, before a vowel, always pronounced like //.• Halapa. 










RUINS OF PAPANTLA. 



j 



i 



From Coast to Table-land. 231 

suffered severely. After suffering greatly from fatigue 
they arrived at a large city called Xocotla, which contained, 
among numerous buildings, thirteen temples and the 
cacique's palace of stone and lime, plastered, terraced and 
turreted. Here they heard further information of the 
capital of Mexico, as Montezuma kept at this place a great 
force of soldiers, and it was one of the strongest in that 
region. The cacique told Cortez that the Aztec capital was 
a city of great strength, being founded on an island, with 
no passage from one house to another except by boats and 
bridges ; the Spaniards were also informed more positively 
and particularly of the immense wealth of Montezuma, which 
inflamed their lust for gold to that extent that they were 
ready to overcome every obstacle to obtain it. The 
cacique and the Spanish general each boasted to the other 
of the great power and grandeur of his sovereign ; and 
Cortez foolishly demanded of the cacique, called Olintetl, 
gold to send to his king across the sea. 

"I have enough of gold," replied Olintetl, ''but cannot 
give it without the express orders of my king ; but if he 
orders me, I wdll not only render up my gold and all my 
estate, but even my person." 

" Then," said Cortez, " I will soon make him order you 
to give it and all that you have." 

Here a difficulty presented itself as to the route to be 
chosen thence to Mexico. The chiefs of Xocotla recom- 
mended that passing through Cholula, as being all the way 
through Mexican territory ; but their allies, the Totonacs, 
advised passing directly through Tlascala, because its 
people were enemies of the Mexicans and likely to welcome 
them in a friendly manner. 



232 Mexico. 



TLASCALA AND THE TLASCALLANS. 

The republic of Tlascala, to which casual reference has 
already been made, lay nearly in the centre of Mexican 
territory, surrounded on all sides by hostile tribes. The 
capital city, Tlascala, was founded about a century previous 
to that of Mexico, and the inhabitants of this territory had 
maintained their independence from their first entrance into 
the Mexican valley, with the first tribes that settled about 
Lake Tezcoco, to the year of the Spanish invasion. War- 
like and courageous, they had resisted the encroachments 
of the Mexicans upon their territory, fighting so zealously in 
defence of their national honor that the Aztecs had never 
succeeded in subduing them. They were idolatrous, having 
essentially the same gods and religious system as the Mex- 
icans ; their arts were also the same, but their commerce 
restricted by their foes to corn and cochineal, two products 
of their country. From the abundance of corn on this 
elevated region amongst the mountains it has been called 
Tlascalafi^ or the place of bread. Ever fighting against the 
Mexicans, ever on the alert against surprise as they were, 
and successful in the defence of their homes, they had yet 
been unable to check Mexican progress, or to prevent 
themselves from being entirely surrounded and cut off from 
the sea. Hence, not strong enough to act more than on 
the defensive, they had been prohibited from trade with 
other nations, and had existed for many years without 
several articles that many people term the necessaries of 
life. It was in the time of King Axayacatl that the Tlas- 
calan commerce with the maritime provinces was finally 
prohibited, and from that time the inhabitants grew accus- 
tomed to eat their food without salt, though it is said that 
the nobles had secret means of obtaining a supply for 
themselves. 



The Republic of Tlascala. 233 

The extent of the repubhc was about fifty miles by thirty ; 
the region in which it was situated was elevated and swept 
by cold winds, and the soil produced little else than maize 
and maguey. 

The Tlascallans were friendly to the Totonacs ; that is, 
they were not at war with them, and they probably sympa- 
thized with them as conquered subjects of Montezuma, 
though unable to aid them. 

Four of the Cempoallans were sent to the senate of Tlas- 
cala with a request that permission be granted the Spanish 
army to jDass through their territory. The embassadors 
were received very politely, and in due time addressed the 
senate as follows : " Most great and valiant chiefs, may the 
gods prosper you and grant you victory over your enemies. 
The lord of Cempoalla, and all the nation of Totonacs, 
desire to acquaint you that from the quarters of the East 
there are arrived in our country in large ships certain bold 
and adventurous heroes, by the assistance of whom we are 
now freed from the tyrannical dominion of the King of 
Mexico. They acknowledge themselves the subjects of a 
powerful monarch, in whose name they come to visit you, 
to communicate intelligence to you of a true God, and 
to assist you against your ancient and inveterate enemy. 
Our nation, following the dictates of that strict friendship 
which has always subsisted between it and this republic, 
counsels you to receive those strangers as friends, who, 
though few in number, are equal in worth to many." 

Tlascala was governed by four lords or chiefs, who com- 
posed the senate, and of these but one, Maxacatzin, seems 
to have been in favor of admitting the strangers. The 
others, led by the old chief, Xicotencatt, whose son was 
commander of the armies, counselled opposition to them 
from the very beginning. Maxacatzin had suggested that 
these were probably the messengers sent from the god of 



234 



Mexico. 



the air, but the wise and sagacious Xicotencatl repelled 
this insinuation with scorn. "Those men," he said, "who 
demand entrance into our city appear to be rather monsters 
cast up by the sea, because it could not endure them in its 
waters, than gods descended from heaven, as some have 
vainly imagined. Is it possible they can be gods, who so 
greedily covet gold and pleasures ? And what should we not 
dread from them in a country so poor as this, when we are 
even destitute of salt ? He wrongs the honor of the nation 













^^,^\vfi\MVEvc^^^^u)& o;^ tiffin's 




ROUTE OF CORTEZ. 



who thinks it can be overcome by a handful of adventurers. 
If they are mortal^ the arms of the Tlascallans will tell it to 
all the regions roimd ; if they are immortal, there will always 
be time to appease their anger by homage, and to implore 
their mercy by repentance. Let their demand, therefore, 
be rejected; and if they dare enter by force, let our arms 
repel their temerity ! " 

After a long and stormy debate, it was decided finally 
to allow the strangers to enter, but at the same time to 



I 



Cortes Reaches the Table-land. 235 

have a large army in waiting to oppose their progress and 
try their strength. This army was placed in charge of a 
son of the old chief, Xicotencatl, of the same name, one 
whose bravery was equal to his skill as a general, and both 
had been tested in many a fight. " If we remain victors," 
said one of the senators, "we will do our arms immortal 
honor ; if we are vanquished, we will accuse the Otomies — 
a nation on their borders — and charge them with having 
undertaken the war without our orders." 

After waiting impatiently several days Cortez (the 
embassadors not returning) decided to advance. They 
had marched but a few leagues when they came to a kind 
of fortification in the shape of a high wall of stone, which, 
it was said, had been built around their territory by the 
Tlascallans to defend them from the Mexicans. There 
was but one narrow passage through it, and this, though 
generally guarded by the Otomies, allies of the Tlascallans, 
was now — when most in need of defenders — wholly 
unprotected. 

After seriously regarding this menace in stone and 
mortar for a while, Cortez ordered his army on, knowing 
well that when that boundary should be passed he would 
be in the country of an enemy entitled to more respect 
than the weak troops of the coast. The Otomies, to whom 
had been entrusted the keeping of the pass, soon made their 
appearance in flying detachments, too late to prevent the 
entrance of the Spanish army, which they might have done at 
the wall, or have caused them fearful loss. Cortez ordered 
some of the cavalry to pursue and make them prisoners, 
when the reckless savages attacked them with such fury 
that their horses were severely wounded ; they could take 
no prisoners, and so they killed five. This was the first 
blood shed on Tlascallan territory by order of Cortez, and it 
was enough to account for the subsequent hostility of the 



236 Mexico. 

Tlascallans themselves, without seeking for a cause in the 
decision of the senate. Three or four thousand Indians 
then set upon the cavalry, and were only driven off by the 
aid of the musketry and artillery, leaving fifty dead upon 
the ground. As evening drew nigh, the army found itself 
marching over a level plain lying between the hills, with 
farm-houses thickly set among fields of maize and maguey. 
They halted near a brook, and the soldiers dressed their 
wounds with the fat of dead Indians, and feasted heartily 
upon the dogs of the Indians, which were caught as they 
returned to the deserted houses of their masters at night. 

After this battle had come off, the embassadors arrived 
with some Tlascallans, who paid their compliments to Cortez 
in the name of the senate, who granted his request to 
enter their capital, and blamed the Otomies for the 
disagreeable reception he had encountered. Cortez was too 
well versed in intrigue himself not to understand the full 
meaning of this message, but he sent back a grateful reply, 
promising to avail himself of their offer and visit them in 
their own capital. The next morning, after taking every 
precaution against surprise, the army resumed its march. 
They had scarcely got into marching order when they were 
attacked by a Tlascallan squadron, with arrows, darts, and 
stones. Cortez, having first sent three prisoners to them 
with a message of peace, ordered a halt, but the enemy 
would not consider his overtures, and being much annoyed 
by their persistence, he finally gave the war-cry, " Santiago^ 
and at them ! " Great slaughter was committed amongst 
them by the musketry and artillery and the Tlascallans 
retreated to some broken ground, where Xicotencatl, the 
general-in-chief, was posted, with his army drawn up in 
good order. 

This army contained twenty or thirty thousand men, and 
fell upon the Spaniards so savagely that they would have 



The Ttascatlans Settle a Doubt. 237 

all been destroyed but for their armor, their artillery and 
horses, and the exceeding great bravery with which they 
defended themselves. During this engagement the Tlas- 
callans settled a question that had long troubled them, and 
that was, whether the horses, those great creatures that 
aided the Spaniards in their battles, were mortal or 
immortal. They settled it in just such a way as those 
Indians of Hayti did, when they held the belief that 
the Spaniards themselves were children of the gods and 
could not be killed. The Haytians took a Spaniard and 
held his head under water till he ceased to breathe, thus 
proving conclusively that those monsters who were 
hurrying them to torment were mortals like themselves. 
The Tlascallans selected a single horseman in the thick of 
the fight, and while a number of them engaged him and 
struck him from his horse, another warrior, with a single 
blow from his great two-handed sword, killed the animal he 
rode. 

It must have been a tremendous blow this, with that 
wooden sword edged with flints ; but it did not cut off 
the horse's head, as some historians have averred, for 
that would have been impossible, with a weapon set only 
with sharp stones, and without a continuous edge ; but it 
killed the horse, and settled their doubts forever as to its 
immortality ! Then these brave Indians, while the fight 
was raging round them, and their companions were falling 
by scores, cut the animal in pieces and sent a portion 
to every district in Tlascala. It was a trophy worthy of 
preservation, to be kept by their children when they should 
have passed away ; for it was the first of those monsters 
slain by them, and its dismembered carcass showed these 
observant Indians that it was only a larger animal than 
any they had in Mexico, and could easily be killed. 

The Spaniards finally beat off the enemy, with a loss to 



23 S Mexico. 

themselves of but one killed and fifteen wounded, and the 
next day they devoted to recruiting their strength and in 
making crossbows and arrows. By a raid upon a large 
village, Cortez secured many fowls and dogs for food, and 
made several prisoners. The latter he sent to Xicotencatl, 
expostulating with him for his madness in resisting his 
advance ; but the only reply of the fierce warrior was that 
the Spaniards should go to Tlascala only as prisoners, 
where their hearts and blood would be offered to the gods, 
and that the next morning Cortez should hear from him in 
person. 

A famous duel occurred that day between a Tlascallan 
and a Cempoallan noble, in sight of both armies ; both 
fought with great skill, but finally the Cempoallan cut his 
antagonist to the ground, and hacking off his head bore it 
to the Spanish camp in triumph. Such an incident must 
have reminded the Spaniards of the exploits of their fathers, 
in the time of famous Ferdinand and Isabella, when Moor 
and Christian met in mortal combat under the walls of 
Granada. The inflexible Xicotencatl was evidently deter- 
mined to attempt the utter destruction of the Spaniards 
on the following day, the battles heretofore having been 
merely skirmishes to feel the force and strength of his enemy. 
He was now without any doubts as to their being ordinary 
mortals like himself, for his warriors had killed, not only 
some of the men themselves, but their horses, those 
fierce animals that coursed so fleetly over the plain and 
trampled upon their stoutest fighting-men. He gathered 
his forces anew and prepared to renew the contest. Fifty 
thousand men were ranged under his banner. As the sun 
rose on that eventful morning it saw this large array cov- 
ering the plain in every direction. Ten squadrons, each of 
not less than five thousand men, each with its own particu- 
lar banner and commanded by its own cacique, with nodding 



The Terrible Battle. 239 

plumes and golden ornaments, were gathered in front of the 
common standard of the republic : a golden eagle with 
expanded wings. To show them that he meant to conquer 
them fairly by force of arms, Prince Xicotencatl sent the 
Spaniards a present of three hundred turkeys and two 
hundred baskets of cakes. Soon after, two thousand of 
his men dashed so violently upon the Spanish lines that 
they broke through and* penetrated to the centre of the 
camp. 

The Spaniards were not blind to the danger they were to 
be in that day ; all the preceding night they had been con- 
fessing their sins to their reverend fathers and preparing for 
the worst. They found themselves attacked by an enemy 
of great energy and skill at arms, and armed with pikes, 
lances, swords, double and triple-pointed darts, as well as 
bows and arrows. Had it not been for discord among 
themselves they might that day have conquered, and their 
nation have been saved from everlasting disgrace. But 
two of the generals — unworthy to be named in the same 
breath with Xicotencatl — became offended at the com- 
mander-in-chief, and withdrew their forces, remaining idle 
spectators while their comrades engaged the Spaniards in 
deadly combat. For hours the battle raged, the brave 
Tlascallans filling up the terrible gaps made by the artillery 
in their ranks so quickly as to present a solid front to their 
foes throughout the fight, and carrying away their dead with 
such despatch that none remained on the ground to tell the 
tale of their losses. Fate was against the Tlascallans that 
day; their republic, like the kingdom of the Aztecs, was 
divided against itself ; the Spaniards conquered, not alone 
through their indomitable valor, but owing to disaffection 
in the Tlascallan ranks. Seventy Spaniards, and all the 
horses, were wounded, one man killed, and all so worn 
down with fatigue as to be unable to pursue the retiring 



240 Mexico. 

foe. " How wretched and comfortless," wrote one of the" 
conquerors, "was our situation after our hardships and 
dangers ! We could not procure even oil and salt ; and 
the cutting winds of the snow-covered mountains made us 
shiver again." 

Cortez now renewed his offers of peace to the senate, and 
now they were half willing to listen to them. But the war 
chief, Xicotencatl, was unwilling yet to abandon the con- 
test ; he knew he could afford to lose a score of men for every 
one of the Spaniards, if he could but vanquish them in the 
end. He sent for their diviners and astrologers, who told 
him to prepare a night attack. " These strangers," said 
they, " being childreji of the stm, are invincible during the 
day ; but as soon as night arrives, by want of the genial 
heat of that luminary, they are deprived of strength to 
defend themselves." 

Accordingly the general marched upon the camp at 
night, with ten thousand chosen warriors ; but Cortez had 
had intimation of their coming and was ready for them, 
giving them such a reception that they did not venture to 
repeat a nocturnal attack. As it was moonlight, the cav- 
alry pursued them through the cornfields, inflicting great 
slaughter. 

Then Xicotencatl was almost in despair, for not only 
was he abandoned by half his forces with their respective 
generals, but the senate was resolved to make peace 
with the Spaniards. Sending him orders to desist from 
his attacks upon them, he refused to obey, and when they 
sent to depose him his warriors and captains resisted 
their authority. But for the craven spirit of these coun- 
selors, and the traitorous conduct of those generals who 
held aloof from the fight, Tlascala might have freed her- 
self from these creatures of prey, who later sapped her 
life-blood ; and Montezuma, seeiiig their noble deeds, 



TJie Valiant Xicotencatl. 241 

would have been glad to conclude with them an honorable 
peace, for having freed his dominion from a foe so danger- 
ous to the safety of his empire. But here again stepped 
in inexorable fate, and decreed that the Spaniards should 
succeed, that the Indians should themselves forge the 
chains that their descendants were to wear for hundreds 
of years. At last, apparently yielding to the importunities 
of the senators — it is not the only example history offers 
us of disaster following close upon the meddling of sen- 
ators and congressmen with affairs of war — Xicotencatl 
sent an embassy of fifty persons to Cortez, carrying with 
them bread and fruit, four old women, some incense and 
parrots' feathers. " This present," said they, " our general 
sends you. If you are, as it is said, Teuks, and desire hu- 
man sacrifice, here are these four women ; take their hearts 
and blood for food ; if you are men, here are fowls, bread, 
and fruit; if you are benignant gods, we offer you this 
incense and these parrots' feathers." 

This was seemingly an honest message enough, but the 
Cempoallan allies told Cortez that these men were spies, 
and only making an inspection of the camp preparatory to 
another nocturnal attack by Xicotencatl. At their instiga- 
tion he arrested four of them, who confessed the object of 
their coming ; and at this he committed one of the most 
cruel deeds of those cruel times : He caused the hands 
of those fifty spies to lie cut ofi^, and then sent them back, 
mutilated and bleeding, to tell their general that, come 
when he would, by night or by day, he would find the 
Spaniards prepared for him, and should not fail to find out 
the metal they were made of. 

The news of the continued successes of the Spaniards 
being carried to Montezuma, he had summoned again a 
council of the kings, and requested their advice. The 
King of Tezcoco advised that the strangers should be 



242 



Mexico. 



courteously treated in every place through which they 
passed, as all embassadors from one sovereign to another 
were wont to be and entitled to according to their laws, 
the king still preserving his supreme authority, and exact- 
ing the respect due to the majesty of the throne. If they 
should seem to design anything against the state, or the 
person of the king, then force and severity should be em- 
ployed against them. Other advice was that which had 
proved so pernicious in the first dealings with them, name- 
ly, to send them a rich present and request them to depart 
from the country. Montezuma knew not what to do, for 
he foresaw that the dread arrivals would surely form an 
alliance with his deadly foes, the Tlascallans, unless they 
were destroyed by them — which did not seem probable ; 
and another cause for alarm was, the action of Ixtlilxo- 
chitl, the disaffected Tezcocan prince, who was then at the 
head of a formidable army at Otompan, and who medi- 
tated an alliance with the Spaniards as soon as they should 
emerge from Tlascallan territory. Unhappily for him, he 
sent fresh baits for the cupidity of the Spaniards in the 
shape of a thousand cotton garments, and a large quan- 
tity of gold and feathers. These were in charge of six 
embassadors, accompanied by a retinue of two hundred 
men, who were advised to congratulate the Spaniards on 
their victories, but at the same time to attempt to dissuade 
them from continuing farther towards his capital. 

It may be a matter of surprise that such a large embassy 
should be allowed by the Tlascallans to treat with a per- 
sonage in their country, but it was according to the law of 
nations, observed by them, that the persons of embassa- 
dors should always be sacred from harm. Cortez received 
this embassy, with its rich presents, with greater joy than 
he was willing the Tlascallans should perceive, for (as in 
the instance of the messengers of Montezuma treating 



A Treaty of Peace. 



243 



with him at Cempoalla), it gave him great importance in 
the eyes of those by whom he was surrounded, and who 
were jealously watching these pro- 
ceedings. He contrived to make the 
embassadors think him still friendly 
to Montezuma, and desirous of pun- 




ishing his mveterate ene- 
mies, the Tlascallans, and he 
begged them to remain with 
him till he should conclude 
arrangements with them to 
pass through their territory 
secretly desiring that they 
should witness upon what ad- 
vantageous terms he made 
peace with them. 

Fear that the Spaniards 

might make an alliance with 

the Mexicans, when they would then be able combined to 

sweep the Tlascallans from the face of the earth, caused 

Xicotencatl to yield to the wishes of the senators and treat 



VIEW IN TIERRA CALIENTE. 



244 Mexico. 

for peace. Consequently, he soon presented himself at 
the camp of the Spaniards, with a noble retinue clad in 
garments of red and white, and, excusing himself for his 
hostilities on account of the belief that Cortez was a friend 
of Montezuma — having accepted so many valuable pres- 
ents from him, and being accompanied by Mexican troops 
— he now promised a firm peace and eternal alliance 
on the part of his people. Cortez assured him that he 
wanted nothing else, though the chief gave him but a small 
present of gold and cotton, — apologizing for its being so 
little on account of the poverty of his country, — and re- 
ceived him with many demonstrations of respect. 

After peace had been concluded Cortez ordered mass to 
be celebrated ; and it may well be imagined that the 
soldiers were ready to offer thanksgiving for the prospect 
of a season of rest. The Mexican embassadors, who had 
witnessed all this, now warned the Spaniards against 
Tlascallan perfidy, but Cortez declared he was not afraid 
of them, even in their capital, and invited the Mexicans 
along to see how he would treat with them, and how 
he would punish them if they should prove treacherous. 



Tlascala Submits to Spain. 245 



CHAPTER XVII. 

TLASCALA, CHOLULA, AND MEXICO. 

The Tlascallans never broke faith with the Spaniards, not 
even when they had them in her power at their capital, nor 
when, crushed and bleeding, they returned to them from their 
disastrous defeat at Mexico. Once having made treaty with 
them, they gave over all thoughts of revenge ; the past was 
completely buried ; they received the conquerors into their 
homes, gave them their sisters and daughters for wives, 
and what gold the country afforded. This present was 
small, because, they explained, Montezuma absorbed it all 
as a condition by which he refrained from a war upon them 
of extermination. Another present, the second received 
in Tlascalla, now arrived from Montezuma, — jewels and 
gold, dresses of cotton and beautiful feathers. 

It is strange how blind that monarch was to the actual 
consequences of such an exhibition of his wealth ; while he 
thought to bribe the conquerors to retire, he was only offer- 
ing stronger inducements for them to advance. It was only 
the burning desire to witness for themselves the source of 
all this wonderful wealth that urged them on ; but for that, 
Cortez would long before have been left alone. 

The aged senators came out to meet him, in hammocks 
and litters, and ratified the aUiance ; they acknowledged 
themselves as vassals to the King of Spain ; a fact very 
gratifying to Cortez, and humiliating to them, as they had 
maintained their independence, as a people, from time 
immemorial. 



246 Mexico. 

At the entrance to the city, which the soldiers said would 
compare favorably with Granada at the time of its capture 
from the Moors, they were received by a crowd of near one 
hundred thousand people. Arches of flowers were sprung 
across the streets by the inhabitants, who gave flowers to 
the soldiers and hung garlands upon the necks of the 
horses. 

[A. D. 1519.] This day of music and rejoicing was the 
twenty-third of September, a day celebrated even in 
modern times by the people of Tlascala. The officers 
and troops were assigned quarters, each man being given a 
bed of nequen, or aloe-fibre, to sleep on. Not yet fully 
satisfied as to the good faith of the Tlascallans, Cortez kept 
his men under arms, keeping watch at night, and sentinels 
at the doorways and on the parapets ; and when the senate 
complained of their lack of faith in their good intentions 
the general told them it was the custom of his country, and 
they were satisfied. Many of the cotton garments pre- 
sented by Montezuma were given by Cortez to the Tlas- 
callan chiefs, for, through poverty, they yet wore dresses of 
neqiieii, cotton being a coast product, and jDrohibited. 

With all his powers of persuasion, Cortez could not 
induce these people to turn from their idols, who, they 
said, gave them rain, and victories over their enemies. 
He showed them a "beauteous image of our Lady," 
but, though they promised to respect her, they could not be 
induced to abandon their other gods in her favor. 

THE HOLY CITY. 

The Tlascallans so far yielded to the advice of Cortez as 
to break the wooden cages in which they confined prisoners 
destined for sacrifice, to set these wretches free, and 
promise to desist from this horrid practice in the future. 
They strongly advised him not to advance any farther, but 



Departure from Tlascala. 247 

to settle amongst them with his troops, and they gave him 
and his officers some of the noblest Indian women as 
wives, in order to strengthen the alliance between them. 
They cautioned him against the people of Cholula, their 
next neighbors, who had formerly been allies of theirs, but 
who, by a detestable act of treachery, had won their undying 
hate, and were now subjects, or allies, of Montezuma. 
There were two roads to the Mexican capital, the most 
direct was through the country of the Huexotzincos, who 
had already sent in their allegiance to the King of Spain ; 
the other through the district of Cholula, the residence of 
the priests of Quetzalcoatl. The embassadors of Monte- 
zuma advised them to go by the way of Cholula, because, 
though the route was longer, they could perform the 
journey with less discomfort. Cortez sent to ask the 
Cholulans why they had not offered their congratulations 
on his arrival, and they returned reply that they feared the 
Tlascallans, who were a base and treacherous peojple, but 
that they now acknowledged themselves vassals of his 
king, and hoped he would pay them a visit. 

Four of the principal nobility of the Mexican court now 
arrived, with more gold and more mantles, amounting to 
ten thousand crowns' value of the former, and ten bales of 
the latter. Montezuma had now changed his policy, 
probably seeing that the Spaniards were determined to ad- 
vance at all odds, and thinking perhaps that it would be 
better to receive them as friends than to allow them to 
league themselves with his enemies, the Tlascallans. He 
sent to them, saying that he " wondered at their staying 
amongst a people so poor and base as the Tlascallans, who 
were robbers, and unfit even for slaves," and then invited 
to his capital. 

When the Tlascallans saw that Cortez would go to Mex- 
ico, and through the district of Cholula, they raised an 



248 



Mexico. 



army of fifty thousand men, foreseeing, no doubt, an oppor- 
tunity for revenge upon the Chokilans for past offences. 
Cortez would accept of only six thousand, and even these, 
when he approached the city of Cholula, were obliged to 
encamp outside upon the plain. 

The holy city of the priests was eighteen miles distant 
from Tlascala, and about sixty from Mexico, situated (as 
now) in the centre of a beautiful and highly-cultivated plain. 
It was very populous, containing, according to Cortez 
himself, who described it in one of his letters, above forty 




CHOI.ULA. 



thousand houses. It was celebrated for its commerce and 
its manufactures of cotton and pottery. Famous above all, 
was it, as the site of the holy pyramid of Qiietzalcoatl, 
which towered above the plain and supported the sanctuary 
of that divinity, who (it will be seen, by referring to Chap. 
II.), dwelt here many years prior to his final departure 
from Anahuac. The city was full of temples and priests, 
and the latter came out to meet them, fumigated them with 
incense, and welcomed them to their houses, except their 
enemies, the Tlascallans, whom thev insisted should camp 



The Massacre at Cholula. 249 

outside. Cortez could not object to this, and his alHes 
were hutted on the plain, while he and his soldiers were 
provided with lodgings in the city. These people gave in 
their allegiance to Cortez without hesitation, but refused to 
abandon their ancient religion, which was the oldest in the 
country — that of the Toltecs themselves — and had not the 
repulsive features of that of the Aztecs and Tlascallans. 
In fact, it was far superior to that of the Spaniards them- 
selves : it required milder sacrifices, and less bloody deeds 
were committed in its name. 

Now we come to chronicle a deed, the commjttal of 
which forever stamps this abandoned crew as the basest, 
most depraved body of adventurers that ever collected itself 
together for plunder and murder. Cortez had, or thought 
he had, just suspicions of treachery on the part of the 
Cholulans ; his allies charged them with it, asserting that 
Montezuma had secretly sent an army of twenty thousand 
men to Cholula, and that the people, at a favorable moment, 
were to rise and massacre every man of the Spanish army. 
The mistress of Cortez, the faithful Marina, whom he had 
obtained at Tabasco, pretended that one of the ladies of 
Cholula had confided to her this fact. The Cempoallan 
allies, who still continued with Cortez, said they had 
observed the Cholulans digging pits in the streets for the 
disabling of the horses, and some of the Tlascallans came 
in with the news that the women and children were fleeing 
to the mountains. 

The provisions failed about this time, and only wood and 
water were furnished by the authorities. Calling a consul- 
tation of his officers, Cortez asked their opinion, but still 
held to his own, which agreed with his inclination : to put 
every man in the city to the sword. He gave out that he 
would depart on the following day, and secretly sent word to 
the Tlascallans t-o storm the city at sunrise and to kill every 



250. Mexico. 

man they met. Two of the priests were said to have con- 
fessed that Montezuma had notice from his gods that the 
Spaniards were to be dehvered into tlieir power at Cholula 
to be sacrificed, and an old woman had confessed to Marina 
that her husband, who was a chief, had received from 
Mexico a present of a golden drum, and that many other 
presents had been distributed among the chiefs and gen- 
erals. Next morning, as the nobles assembled to super- 
intend the removal of the baggage of the Spanish army, 
and the men of burden were preparing to take up their 
loads, Cortez ordered the great gates of the court to be 
closed. There were already assembled in the courts of the 
immense building in which the Spaniards were lodged, a 
multitude of people, comprising the flower of Cholulan 
nobility. After addressing these people, informing them 
that he knew they were preparing to sacrifice his soldiers, 
that he knew they had pots already boiling, and seasoning 
of salt and tomatoes ready for the preparation of their 
flesh, he ordered his soldiers to fall upon the defenceless 
crowd. The signal was given by the discharge of a musket ; 
then all those ferocious villains fell upon the Cholulans 
and slaughtered them without mercy. Not one was left 
alive ; blood flowed in streams, and the groans and cries 
of the dying rent the air. When all these hundreds 
had been put to death, the savage Spaniards sallied into 
the streets, and, together with the fierce Tlascallans, 
rushed like famished tigers upon the Cholulans. Fire 
added to the sword in sweeping the city clear of people, 
and in a short time over six thousand inhabitants had died 
most miserable deaths. 

And all this had been done in revenge for a fancied 
slight ! There was no necessity for the passing of the 
Spanish army this way ; in fact, the other was the shorter 
road. There was no demand for such a wholesale mas- 



The Spaniards leave. Chohila. 251 

sacre ; there was no certain proof that such was intended 
against the Spaniards. Even had the Cholulans neglected 
to supply the army with provisions, they were certainly en-- 
titled to excuse on the ground that Cortez had forced him- 
self upon them, and had marched to their city with their 
deadliest enemies, whom they had every reason to hate. 
Viewed from any standpoint, this massacre was unjustifi- 
able ; yet when the wretched inhabitants — such as had been 
saved from the fury of the Tlascallans, and the equally 
savage Spaniards — came creeping back to the smoldering 
ruins of their homes, Cortez made as though he were the 
aggrieved one and these miserable women and children 
the real offenders ! 

Some of the nobles had been spared, and these begged 
of him to allow the women and children to return to the 
city after the massacre was over, for they were wandering 
in terror and dismay in the mountains. What heart- 
rending scenes might then have been witnessed, as these 
helpless innocents groped through the ruins of their once 
beautiful city in search of fathers, sons, and brothers, 
greeted by the groans of the dying and the insulting taunts 
of the victors ! The soldiers took a great quantity of 
booty, gems, gold and silver, while the Tlascallans seized 
the cotton, feathers, and salt ; they also made many slaves. 

Nothing more is heard of the army of twenty thousand 
men that was said to have been sent by Montezuma, and 
it is thought by many to have existed solely in the imagina- 
tion of the Spaniards. After passing fourteen days in and 
about Cholula, Cortez prepared to continue his march to 
Mexico. He had sent a full account of proceedings to 
Montezuma, giving his own story, but affecting to believe 
that the Mexican monarch had nothing to do with it, and 
the king had sent him another large present, congratulating 
him on his victory. Whether there was treachery on the 



252 Mexico. 

part of Montezuma, at whose instigation the Cholulans 
were to rise upon and sacrifice the Spaniards, or not, seems 
never to have been fully proven. It seems more in ac- 
cordance with what we know of Cortez and his band to 
believe that there was no treachery intended, except by the 
Spaniards themselves, and the massacre was committed in 
order to strike terror into the hearts of all the inhabitants 
of the Mexican valle}^, and to secure the rich booty that 
would fall to the share of the victors. 

The Spanish army at last moved out of Cholula, leaving 
behind them woe and ruin, tears, wounds, death, and lam- 
entation, as they did at Tabasco, and, turning their backs 
upon the fertile plains, commenced to climb the moun- 
tains. 

Between them and the central valley of Mexico lay only 
a ridge of mountains, but a ridge containing two of the 
highest peaks in North America, which rose directly before 
them. Popocatapetl was the name of the highest peak, 
which, rising to a height of nearly 18,000 feet, had its sum- 
mit always covered with snow. Popocatapetl is an Indian 
name, and signifies the " hill that smokes," because it is a 
volcano, and within the memory of the Indians had belched 
out smoke and even ashes. A few miles away from this 
volcano rose another, a long, broken ridge covered with 
snow, and called Iztaccihuatl — or " the woman in white ; " 
named by the Spaniards, La Miijer Blanca — which signi- 
fies the same thing. This name had been given to it on 
account of its shape, which has a fancied resemblance to a 
great, dead giantess, robed in snowy white. Between these 
giant mountains ran the trail to Mexico, and from their 
western slopes the Spaniards first caught sight of the Aztec 
city, which, though near sixty miles away, could be seen 
glimmering in the sunlight like a fairy creation of pyra- 
mids and palaces. 




VOLCANOES AS SEEN FROM MEXICO. 



The Valley of Mexico, 255 

If Montezuma had really intended harm to the Spanish 
army this would have been the place, in this gap, where 
he would, beyond all doubt, have attacked them. For the 
trail ascends to a height of nearly 14,000 feet, where the 
winds are of chilling temperature, and the roads wind 
through great black forests of pine and hemlock, where an 
Aztec army would have every advantage for an ambus- 
cade. They found nothing to prevent their ascent and 
descent, except trees felled to obstruct their passage, and 
another day found them within the limits of the valley of 
Anahuac, with their goal in sight, at intervals, from the 
higher hills. 

At Cholula, previous to leaving it behind him, Cortez had 
dismissed the Cempoallans and had accepted from the 
Tlascallans a thousand men to carry his baggage and draw 
the artillery. He might have had ten thousand had he so 
chosen, but that great number it would not have been 
policy to carry into Montezuma's kingdom on an errand 
of peace. The Cempoallans returned to their homes ; 
and we do not know that they ever received a reward for 
their inestimable services ; they fell, with the rest of the 
Indian nations, under Spanish dominion, and to-day you 
cannot find their city, save perhaps a stone or two of its 
ruins. Many of them, and likewise all the Indians brought 
from Cuba, perished of cold and privation when they 
reached the cold altitudes of the table-lands. 

The feelings of the conquerors, as they caught sight of 
the royal city, situated in the centre of that vast valley^ 
the hills, plains, mountains, even the lakes, dotted with 
cities and villages, all exhibiting tokens of wealth and 
power, must have been indescribable. To the first feeling 
of exhilaration, consequent upon gazing upon such a 
glorious scene, must have succeeded gloomy reflections 
upon their own position in this powerful kingdom, sur- 



256 Mexico. 

rounded on every side by enemies. Had not their bravery 
been equal to their depravity, they would have turned about 
for Vera Cruz then and there. But some undefined 
impulse urged them on ; the magneit that drew them was 
perhaps the gold of Montezuma, for which they were ready 
to sell their souls. 

On the western slope of the mountains, more embassadors 
met Cortez with another present from Montezuma, and 
with earnest entreaties that he would reconsider his deter- 
mination and desist from marching upon Mexico. He 
promised, if they would return, to send a great treasure of 
gold and jewels for the King of Spain, four loads of gold 
for Cortez himself, and a load for each of the soldiers. 
This would have amounted to millions of dollars, for a load 
was ^<d^\N2\Q.VLl\.Q) fifty pounds I Cortez courteously thanked 
the embassadors, but said that nothing could now turn him 
from his mission when so near the royal residence. 

On the second day they passed through Amecameca and 
Tlalmanalco, two towns that yet exist as thriving settle- 
ments. Either in the last named place, or at Chalco — so 
celebrated in the aboriginal history of Mexico — they were 
met by the King of Tezcoco, Cacamatzifi, who had come 
by request of Montezuma, to make a last appeal to Cortez 
to return whence he came. He was borne in a magnificent 
litter, and adorned with gold and feathers, and when he 
alighted his lords went before him and swept the ground 
over which -he was to pass. After an interchange of 
presents, the king preferred his request, and Cortez 
answered it as he had the others. 

" If this is so," said the king on taking leave ; " if you 
are determined to go on, we will see each other at court." 

And they did see each other at court, not many months 
later, when the Spaniard received the king as a prisoner, 
by the orders of Montezuma himself. 



Ixtlilxochitl Meets Cortez. 



257 



The army skirted the south-eastern shore of Lake Chalco, 
and at a town called Ayocingo (at this day existing), where 
was a harbor for the canoes of the merchants, they entered 
a causeway that led to a small island. Here was a city 
known as Cuitlahuac (to-day Tlahuac)^ which was thought 
by the Spaniards to be the most beautiful they had ever 
seen. Another causeway led across the lake to the north, 
and over this the army marched to Iztapalapan — to-day, 
called Ixtapalapa — where they saw palaces built of stone, 







y 









.^i^r 



s-*- si 






A mecameca *'^J^^^\v"/ 



^^- '^l 



with massive cedar beams, lovely gardens of flowers, and 
ponds of clear water. Here also they saw those wonderful 
" floating gardens " for the first time, and were struck with 
astonishment at the many works of art and evidences of 
taste and refinement. 

Here the rebellious Tezcocan prince, Ixtlilxochitl, with 
a portion of his army, met them and tendered his services 
to the Spanish crown, offering to join forces with Cortez if 



258 Mexico. 

he would attack the Mexican king. He was quieted for a 
while with a diplomatic answer, and went back to his 
mountain capital to nurse his wrath till the time arrived 
for action. 

Great crowds, that continually increased, now obstructed 
the way ; curiosity alone moved them to inspect these stran- 
gers, for they were the first that had ever entered their 
territory. 

What a sight they must have been to those Indians, these 
mailed men, with their glittering armor, flashing swords and 
helmets, their terrible aids, the horses, and their artillery ! 
Sternly they marched along, with solid front and close 
ranks, the tramp of their iron heels ringing ominously upon 
the stone causeway. 

The Spaniards were not less amazed at what they saw 
than the Indians. Here is a description by one of them : 
" When we beheld the number of populous towns on the 
water and firm ground, and that broad causeway running 
straight and level to the city, we could compare it to noth- 
ing but the enchanted scenes we had read of in Amadis of 
Gaul, from the great towers and temples and other edifices 
of lime and stone which seemed to rise out of the water. 
To many of us it appeared doubtful whether we were asleep 
or awake ; nor is the manner in which I express myself to 
be wondered at, for it must be considered that never yet 
did man see, hear, or dream of anything equal to the spec- 
tacle which appeared to our eyes on this day ! " 

From the beautiful city of Iztapalapa, which was situated 
on a peninsula between the fresh-water lake of Chalco and 
the great salt-water lake of Tezcoco, a road led to Mexical- 
cingo — yet to be found on the map of Mexico — and thence 
it was straight away to the capital. 



In the Aztec Stronghold. 259 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

IN THE AZTEC STRONGHOLD. 

[A. D. 1 5 19.] The city of Mexico, built on an island 
in Lake Tezcoco, was connected with the mainland by four 
causeways of stone. That by which Cortez approached, six 
miles in length, commenced at Mexicalcingo, and, crossing 
the lake to the island, was prolonged on the north to 
Tepeyacac, where is now the shrine of Guadalupe ; another 
ran nearly west, and the fourth, which supported an aque- 
duct, terminated at Chapultepec. All centred in the great 
square of the city, from which branched other streets and 
canals, or streets one-half water and the other half solid 
earth. All these causeways were intersected by broad 
ditches to allow passage to the water of the lake, crossed 
by wooden bridges that could be easily raised, and thus 
cut off the retreat of an enemy brave enough to advance 
over them. 

The grand causeway was eight yards wide, and ran 
straight to Mexico. In good order, the Spaniards marched 
over it between the assembled thousands of Indians. At 
about a mile from the city this causeway was joined by 
another from the town of Coyoacan, and at their juncture 
was a small, though strong, fortress, with walls ten feet 
high, battlements, two entrances, and a drawbridge. This 
point was called Xoloc, and was occupied by Cortez in the 
following year as his military headquarters, whence he 
directed the siege of the city. The army halted here, and 
waited, until more than a thousand Mexican nobles had 



26o Mexico. 

passed by and saluted the general. As this salute con- 
sisted of a low bow, touching the earth with the hand and 
then kissing it, the halt was a very long one. An hour or 
two later the army moved on, and just as the city limxits 
were reached they were informed that the great Monte- 
zuma was approaching. They halted and Cortez dis- 
mounted from his horse. The monarch appeared, borne in 
a litter upon the shoulders of four nobles, while , others 
carried golden rods in front to indicate his coming. The 
litter was covered with plates of gold, its canopy orna- 
mented with green feathers, gold, and pendants of precious 
stones. Supported upon the arms of two of his principal 
lords, Montezuma, having alighted from the litter, advanced 
to meet Cortez. He wore upon his head a golden crown, 
rich mantles, worked with gold and jewels, hung from his 
shoulders, and upon his feet were golden sandals, tied with 
strings of leather ornamented with gems. 

As they met, Cortez threw upon his neck a string of glass 
beads, and would have embraced him had not the lords in 
attendance interposed. Montezuma made a short speech of 
welcome, and in return for the glass beads gave the auda- 
cious stranger two necklaces of mother-of-pearl, hung with 
beautiful crayfish of gold. Having then given orders to 
his brother. Prince Cuitlahiiatzin^ to conduct Cortez and 
his army to the palace provided for them, he returned to 
the city with the King of Tezcoco. The entire populace 
had been drawn out to observe this extraordinary spectacle. 
As Montezuma passed, attended by his nobles, they crowded 
close to the walls, not daring even to lift up their eyes. 

On the western side of the great square, which contained 
the holy pyramid and the temples and altars to their 
various gods, stood the palace of Axayacatl, father of 
Montezuma. Into this immense building, which contained 
ample room for them all, not less than seven thousand in 




MEETING OF CORTEZ AND MONTEZUMA. 



Cortez Visits Montezuma s Palace. 263 

number, the Spanish army was conducted. Montezuma 
and his nobles stood waiting for them at the gate, and, 
when they had arrived, took Cortez graciously by the hand 
and showed him his apartment, at the same time placing a 
valuable collar of gold about his neck. The walls were 
hung with tapestry of cotton with golden fringe, mats 
of rushes and palm leaves covered the floors, low seats of 
wood were provided as chairs, and everything in and about 
the palace was neat and clean. Then giving orders to his 
officers to prepare provisions and refreshments for his 
weary guests, Montezuma said to Cortez, '' You are now 
in your own house," and withdrew, leaving the Spaniards 
arnazed at the magnificence of their surroundings and 
the munificence of the emperor. 

After the grim and battered warriors had filed in, with 
their Indian allies and attendants, Cortez planted cannon 
to defend the gate, distributed guards about the parapets, 
and then, having placed himself in a posture of defence, 
fired a salute from the cannon, in order to terrify the Mexi- 
cans and to express their triumph in having at last reached 
the goal of their desires. 

This memorable day, the eighth of November, 15 19, 
seven months after their arrival on the Mexican coast, was 
terminated by a banquet, at which the nobles served them, 
and distributed to officers and soldiers abundance of 
such as the land produced 

The following day, Cortez, attended by five of his 
captains, paid a visit to Montezuma in his own palace, 
which was reached by crossing the great square. They 
were graciously received by the lords-in-waiting, and, after 
having been required to cover their garments with coarse 
wrappers and to put olf their shoes, they were admitted 
into the royal presence. Montezuma put many questions 
to them about their country of Spain and its government, 



264 Mexico. 

and finally Cortez drew the conversation upon religion, 
which he explained to the king, was the real object of his 
embassy. He drew a touching jDicture of the concern of 
the King of Spain — a monarch who sanctioned the burn- 
ing of heretics in his own dominions — for the souls of the 
inhabitants of Mexico. He told him — what was utterly 
false — that this great monarch had such deep sympathy 
for them, and was so desirous of leading them away from 
the worship of idols, that would only destroy their souls, 
that he had despatched him on his mission. Montezuma 
made a reply, in substance the same as that given by the 
Tlascallans to a similar request that they should abandon 
their idols : that their gods were good enough for them, that 
they gave them sun, and rain, and victories ; he desired 
Cortez to say no more on the subject. This interview 
ended with another present from Montezuma to the 
Spaniards : to the general he gave a large quantity of 
golden ornaments, to each of the captains three loads of 
mantles, and to each soldier two loads of these valuable 
articles, richly wrought. He was so generous and affable 
that he won the heart of every soldier, and if he entertained 
any designs against them he well concealed his feelings 
beneath an appearance of content, even of gayety. 

" He was at this time about forty years of age, of good 
height, and well-proportioned, with a complexion much 
fairer than that of the Indians in general, wearing short 
black hair, and a very thin beard. His countenance was 
pleasing, and gravity and good humor blended together 
when he spoke." His clothing was often changed, as he 
was cleanly in his habits, and bathed frequently ; and a 
garment having been once worn, was not put on again for 
four days after. A thousand people comprised his house- 
hold. " His cooks had upwards of thirty different ways of 
dressing meats, and had earthen vessels so contrived as to 



Mofitezumd s Capital, 265 

keep them always hot. For the table of Montezuma him- 
self, above three hundred dishes were prepared, and for his 
guards above a thousand ; the ordinary meats were pheas- 
ants, geese, quails, venison, peccaries, pigeons, hares and 
rabbits, with many other animals and birds peculiar to the 
country. Torches of aromatic wood gave light in winter ; 
the table was covered with snowy cloths and napkins, and 
four beautiful women presented him with water for his hands 
in vessels which they called Xicales — or calabashes. A 
screen was placed before him when he ate, to shield him 
from the gaze of the vulgar, and four ancient noblemen 
stood near the throne at this time, to whom Montezuma 
occasionally presented a plate of food, which they ate with 
every token of humility. Fruit of every kind was placed 
before him, and from time to time he drank a little foaming 
chocolate, which was presented him in golden cups. Some- 
times he had singers and dancers to amuse him, as well as 
deformed and hump-backed dwarfs, acrobats, and jesters. 
After he had dined, four female attendants brought him 
water with which to wash his hands, and then they presented 
him with three little canes, highly ornamented, containing 
liquidamber mixed with tobacco ; and when he had sufficiently 
viewed and heard the singers, dancers, and buffoons, 
he took a little of the smoke of one of these canes, and then 
laid himself down to sleep ; and thus his principal meal 
was concluded." 

About the great square in the centre of the city were 
grouped all the principal buildings ; within it were the tem- 
ples, the largest of which was the holy pyramid — the teo- 
calli — (already described in Chap. III.) and various others. 
There was one like an immense serpe7it,\^\{\Qk\. Bernal Diaz, 
oae of the conquerors, said he could never pass without 
comparing it with the infernal regions, for at the door " stood 
frightful idols ; by it was a place for sacrifice, and within it 



266 Mexico, 

boilers and pots full of water to dress the flesh of the vic- 
tims, which was eaten by the priests. The idols were like 
serpents and devils, and before them were tables and knives 
for sacrifice, the place being covered with the blood which 
was spilled on those occasions." 

Near this temple was another, full of bones, and skulls 
and skeletons, piled in heaps and laid in rows. The dwell- 
ings of the priests, the colleges and nunneries, were 
within the vast enclosure also. The great wall which 
surrounded it had four gates, above which were places for 
the collection of the royal arms. In the Place of Skulls, 
these ghastly emblems were symmetrically arranged,, and 
when one dropped from its place, owing to decay, it was 
replaced by a fresh one. Some of the conquerors declared 
that they counted the skulls preserved* in this horrible place, 
and that there were one hundred and thirty-six thousand ! 

The favorite palace of Montezuma was built of stone, 
whitened with lime, and bad twenty doors opening into the 
public square. It contained more than a hundred chambers, 
three great courts adorned with fountains and gardens, and 
apartments finished in jasper and marble. One of these 
halls was so large that it would hold, according to credible 
testimony, three thousand persons. Upon the roof of some 
of the buildings, some of the Spanish officers declared, there 
was ample room for a tournament ! These roofs were flat, 
and sometimes with battlements ; the houses were of stone, 
one and two stories in height, sometimes roofed with stone 
and sometimes with thatch ; but all with immense beams 
of cedar and cypress. Two great houses about the central 
square were devoted to the animals of the kingdom, and 
contained every variety of bird and beast it was possible to 
obtain, even snakes and alligators. The birds alone 
demanded three hundred men for their daily care, and they 
had physicians also, who carefully noted their diseases and 



Cortez Ascends the Pyj'-ainid. 267 

prescribed for them. Strong wooden cages contained 
pumas, jaguars, wolves and wild-cats, to whom, it was said, 
were thrown the bodies of the sacrificed victims, after the 
limbs had been reserved for the table of the priests. Out- 
side of the city there were woods, in which the emperor 
hunted, and gardens and groves in which he delighted to 
ramble, supplied with canals of running water, fountains 
and springs, like those of Chapultepec, which exist to this 
day. 

About this vast square, also, were the palaces of the 
nobles and the lords of distant provinces, who were obliged 
to reside here a portion of their time ; the royal arsenal, 
full of every kind of aboriginal weapons, shields, and 
helmets ; in fact, all the public buildings and residences of 
Mexico's greatest men were here. There Avere other 
squares and market-places, temples and towers, scattered 
all over the city, so that it was a most magnificent city to 
behold, and one to convey to a stranger an idea of vast 
wealth and power. No wonder that the Indians of the 
mountains were impressed with a sense of its grandeur, 
and thought the King Montezuma to be the mightiest 
potentate on the face of the earth ! 

One day, Cortez ascended to the top of the great pyramid, 
and there Montezuma met him and pointed out to him the 
notable places in the valley and the chief buildings in his 
city. Here the Spaniard saw that grim old idol, Huitzil- 
opochtli, with human hearts smoking before him on some 
coals, and other idols to which the Aztecs had been sacri- 
ficing for a hundred years and more. Cortez attempted to 
reason with Montezuma upon the folly and wickedness of 
worshipping such hideous images : " I wonder," said he, 
"that a monarch so wise as you are can adore as gods 
those abominable figures of the devil." This he said half 
in jest, but Montezuma, — to whom they seemed as really 



268 Mexico. 

gods as the image of the Virgin to Cortez, — was shocked 
and grieved, and repUed sadly : " If I had known that you 
^vould have spoken disrespectfully of my gods, I should 
not have yielded to your request to visit the platform of 
the temple. Go now to your quarters, go in peace, while 
I remain to appease the anger of our gods, which you have 
provoked by your blasphemy." 

The king was more liberal in his views than Cortez, for 
he allowed him to build an adoratory for his own god, and 
even gave him workmen and material for the purpose. 
Soon after, he gave him and his soldiers more presents ; 
great pieces of gold for Cortez, ten loads of fine mantles 
for him and his captains, and to every soldier two loads of 
mantles and two collars of gold. 

In a shoi;J; time, the Spaniards had visited the greater 
portion of the city — the people paying no particular atten- 
tion to them after their first curiosity had been gratified, 
so well-bred were they — they had visited the great market- 
place where all the productions and commodities of the 
kingdom were gathered for sale, the courts of justice, and 
the temples. 

It was in looking for a niche in which to place their holy 
emblem of the cross, that the Spaniards found the de- 
pository of Montezuma's treasure ! They broke through a 
wall in one of the apartments and there saw " riches without 
end ; " a vast quantity of works of gold, gems, gorgeous 
feathers and fabrics, silver and jewels. The secret soon 
leaked out, and all the soldiers had a glimpse of the royal 
treasure, which had been accumulated during the lifetime 
of Axayacatl, father of Montezuma. It was left untouched 
for a more convenient time, and the wall closed up. " I 
was then a young man," wrote the conqueror, Diaz, " and 
I thought that if all the treasures of the earth had been 
brought into one place they could not have amounted to 
so much." 



Base higratitude. 269 

A week had elapsed, the Spaniards had tired of sight- 
seeing, their allies longed for active work in the field, their 
cupidity was aroused by the sight of so much treasure : they 
longed to get it into their possession ; in short, they were 
getting restless and were desirous of an opportunity for 
departure. But how could they do this without exciting the 
fears of the multitude by whom they were surrounded, and 
causing them to rush upon and massacre them in the 
streets ? The past days and nights had been to Cortez full 
of anxious thought. He had placed himself in a predica- 
ment from which he saw no escape except by artful strategy ; 
he had played a deep game, he could win only by bold moves. 
At last he thought he saw an opening out of the difficulty ; 
if he could get the emperor into his power he might then be 
able either to retreat with honor, or to stay in comparative 
safety. But how could they do this ? He had given them 
no pretext for seizing his person, he had not shown by word 
or deed that he bore them aught but the best of feeling ; 
he had treated them like princes — they, the offscourings 
of Spain ; had enriched them, petted and caressed them. Yet 
they could not believe but that he meditated evil ; they 
judged his nature by their own ; they knew what they 
would do had affairs been reversed, and had they been the 
rulers of his kingdom and he and his nobles their guests — 
they would have burnt him as an idolater within twenty- 
four hours of his coming ! 

Now, history has not shown that Montezuma intended 
to deal by them treacherously, even though the events of 
that time were recorded by men belonging to the nation of 
the conquerors themselves ; yet, forgetting all his generous 
treatment of them, they resolved to seize him, hold him 
prisoner, and, if necessary, kill him ! A pretext was found 
in an outbreak, in one of Montezuma's provinces on the 
coast, against the Spaniards left in garrison at Vera Cruz. 



2/0 Mexico. 

Qiietzalpopoca, lord of a province contiguous to the Toto- 
nacs, had undertaken to bring the latter people under sub- 
jection. The Spanish garrison had gone to the assistance 
of the Totonacs, but, though they defeated Quetzalpopoca, 
had lost six or seven soldiers, and among them their gov- 
ernor, Juan de Escalante. One of the soldiers, who had 
an enormous beard and fierce visage, was sent as a pris- 
oner to Montezuma, but, having died on the way, his head 
was cut off and presented to the emperor. Montezuma 
was so terrified at the ferocious aspect of this hideous tro- 
phy — the first European face he had ever looked on — 
that he refused to have it offered in any of his temples, 
and retired to a place of seclusion, greatly tfoubled by the 
event. This occurred while the Spanish army was in Cho- 
lula, and Cortez had heard of it at the time, but had kept 
it to himself. Now, he considered it a proper time to men- 
tion it to his soldiers, and a sufficient cause for taxing 
Montezuma with treacher}^ Having consulted with his 
captains, it was determined on to seize the king the very 
next day; and in the morning the interpreters, Aguilar and 
Marina, were despatched to notify the king that Cortez 
would visit him at his palace. He and five of his captains 
entered the audience-hall where they were received with 
much affection, and presented with some gold. Cortez soon 
revealed the nature of the business he came on, charging 
Montezuma with not only instigating the attack on the 
Spaniards at Vera Cruz, but also the meditated massacre 
at Cholula. The astonished monarch declared his inno- 
cence, and taking from his wrist a ring bearing the signet 
of Huitzilopochtli — the royal seal, upon presentation of 
which no man dared disobey the bearer of it — and giving 
it to an officer of his court, he commanded him to bring 
Quetzalpopoca and those responsible for the attack upon 
the Spaniards into his presence. With this, Cortez de- 



Montezuma a Prisoner. 2"ji 

clared himself much pleased, but added that he and his 
men would not be satisfied unless the king would consent 
to return with them to their quarters — in the palace of the 
late king, Axayacatl — and there take up his abode with 
them till the return of the guilty parties. 

The king was thunderstruck at the audacity of such a 
proposal, and as soon as he could recover his senses made 
reply : " When was there ever an instance of a king 
tamely suffering hi nself to be led into prison ? And 
although I were willing to debase myself in so vile a man- 
ner, would not all my vassals immediately arm themselves 
to set me free ? I am not a man who can hide myself or 
fly to the mountains; without subjecting myself to such 
infamy, I am here now ready to satisfy your complaints." 
Cortez was firm, however, in persisting that he should go 
with them, adding that, if his subjects should attack them, 
they could defend themselves — forgetting, perhaps, that 
the very reason why he wanted Montezuma in their power 
was to prevent the dreaded attack. 

Much argument ensued, the king giving decidedly the 
best reasons, when one of the soldiers, a brutal captain, 
spoke up in a rough voice, advising Cortez to waste no 
more words, but, unless he yielded, to run him through with 
a sword. Learning the meaning of these words, and fear- 
ing he would be murdered before his guards could come to 
his assistance, Montezuma cowardly yielded to his fears, 
and said in a trembling voice : "I am willing to trust 
myself with you ; let us go, let us go, since the gods intend 

^^* Ordering his litter he got into it, and in pomp and mag- 
nificence, though closely guarded by the Spanish troops, 
he went from the palace, looking his last upon the hall 
where he had so often sat in state, for he was never to enter 
it again ! News of such an event as this could not fail of 



2^2 Mexico. 

being rapidly spread amongst the people, and there would 
certainly have been an uprising and attempted rescue had 
not Montezuma commanded his nobles to threaten with 
death any one who should attempt it, and declared that the 
visit to the Spanish quarters was made of his own free will. 

His domestics preceded him and hung an apartment 
with fine tapestry and transported furniture from the royal 
palace. They ministered to his wants as before, and he 
preserved the same state, giving audiences to his subjects 
in the same manner as w^hen he was in supreme control. 
But he w^as now a monarch only in name, as the subse- 
quent dealings of Cortez with him fully show. 

The officers bearing the signet of the god returned in 
fifteen days with the culprits, Quetzalpopoca, his son, and 
fifteen others. They were richly dressed ; putting off their 
shoes and covering their fine garments with coarser ones, 
they came into the presence of Montezuma. He received 
them coldly, reprimanded them for attacking the Spaniards, 
and then delivered them over to Cortez. 

If there is anything that can reconcile us to the ignoble 
treatment of Montezuma by the Spanish chief, it is his 
baseness in delivering his vassals up to torture in order to 
shield himself from the consequences of his own policy 
and commands. There is no doubt that he commanded 
this lord to reduce the Totonacs to obedience — as he had 
a right to do, as Rebellious subjects — but he had not the 
spirit to admit as much to the Spaniards. 

Quetzalpopoca and his officers were handed over to the 
Spaniards, to be dealt with as traitors to the Spanish king, 
of whom they — the subjects of Montezuma — had never 
heard before in their lives ! In the centre of the square a 
large collection was made of darts, arrows, bows, and shields, 
from the royal armory, which Cortez was anxious to get rid 
of, as they might be of use against him in the hands of the 



The Burning of Quetzalpopoca. 273 

Indians, in case of outbreak. Upon a vast pile of these the 
brave Mexicans were placed and fire applied. The flames 
leaped up and enveloped them, and soon, after exhorting 
one another to face death courageously, perished Quetzal- 
popoca and his companions, the first martyrs by fire to 
Spanish cruelty in Mexico. 

We look with horror upon such an act as this, even after 
the lapse of more than three centuries, but in Mexico it was 
not regarded with deep feeling; and even in "Christian" 
Spain, forty years later, the burning of a heretic was made 
an occasion of feasting and rejoicing ! What would not 
the bloody Philip of Spain have given for such a lieutenant 
as Cortez ? Reading — if he ever read — the list of his 
executions, he must have exclaimed with regret, " Ah ! here 
was a man in advance of his time; would that I had such 
as he to purge my kingdom with fire and sword ! " 

As the smoke of this terrible sacrifice ascended and 
spread over the valley, it carried with it the mutterings of 
an outraged and a revengeful people ; the subjects of 
Montezuma could be held in check but little longer ; the 
nobles were gathering their forces, even the priests — blind 
devotees of Montezuma's god — were disgusted at the 
servility of their king. That cloud of smoke was charged 
with thunder ; from it was to dart the lightning that was to 
destroy the Spanish forces ! 



2/4 Mexico, 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MONTEZUMA A CAPTIVE. 

Seventeen souls had passed through fire to the realms 
beyond. Outraged justice was to be yet further insulted, 
buffeted, and trampled upon. During the burning of the 
Mexicans, Montezuma had been kept in irons. Fetters had 
been placed upon his ankles. Stupefied with grief and 
shame, he had uttered no protest, then he broke down ut- 
terly and wept ; his spirit was entirely broken, the iron had 
entered his soul. His abasement was such, that when the 
tyrant entered his apartment to remove the irons, boasting 
of his clemency in not taking his life, Montezuma fell upon 
his neck with expressions of gratitude ! Knowing that he 
had the king fully in his power, Cortez offered to allow him 
to return to his palace ; but this he would not consent to 
do, w^ell aware that the offer was insincere, and of the 
danger possible to his life from his incensed and disgusted 
nobles. Though constantly guarded, Montezuma was 
allowed to go wherever he liked ; to the lake to fish for 
water-fowl, to the woods of Chapultepec to hunt, to the 
temple to consult his gods. Two vessels had been built, 
wdth iron from Vera Cruz and wood from the royal forests, 
and one day the king and his party went in them to an 
island in the lake kept as a preserve, where they had great 
sport with deer and rabbits, and enjoyed the swift sailing 
of the great boats, which left the Indian canoes far behind. 
The royal prisoner was kept amused by parades of the 
soldiers and by means of conversation with a page in the 



Seizure of the King of Tezcoco. 275 

employ of Cortez, who had learned the Aztec language. 
There was no popular commotion at the burning of the 
prisoners, because the people had looked upon the act as 
done by the orders of their king ; but all the Spanish 
soldiers were on duty in the square ; and after that the 
sentinels were doubled and the horses kept always saddled 
and bridled at night. They prepared themselves as best 
they could for the revolt they had every reason to expect. 

The crowning act of Montezuma's perfidy was the capture 
and delivery into the hands of Cortez of Cacamatzin^ King 
of Tezcoco. This prhice, a nephew of Montezuma, had 
become justly indignant at the treatment his uncle was 
receiving at the hands of the Spaniards, and he sent to tell 
him that he should not forget that he was a king^ and that 
he had no more spirit than a hen, to allow himself to 
be reduced to such a miserable condition. He called to- 
gether other princes of Mexico and tried to incite them to 
attack these strangers who had acquired such influence over 
their king, and had offered such insults to their deities. 
" It is now time," said this sagacious prince, " to fight for 
our religion, for our country, for our liberty, and for our 
honor, before the power of those men is increased by re- 
inforcements from their own country or new alliances in 
this." 

Cortez became alarmed, and sent to him a reminder of 
their former friendship and a warning against incurring his 
enmity. Cacamatzin made a spirited reply, saying that 
he could not regard as friends those who had so grossly 
insulted his gods and his relatives ; and declared that he 
would soon rid the country of such pestilent vermin. 

By means unworthy of a king, Montezuma obtained pos- 
session of the person of Cacamatzin and delivered him up 
to Cortez to burn or imprison, as he thought best. The 
utter baseness of this act will be apparent when we recollect 



276 Mexico. 

that Cacamatzin was nephew of Montezuma, that he had 
been placed upon the throne by his aid, and that he had 
purposed resorting to arms only to free his uncle from im- 
prisonment and his country from the presence of unprin- 
cipled oppressors. Cortez immediately placed the unfor- 
tunate prince in irons, and he subsequently perished, in the 
retreat from Mexico. A brother of his was in the city, 
CuicuicatztJt, who had sought protection from Cacamatzin, 
owing to a family quarrel. He was at once proclaimed 
king by Cortez and Montezuma, under the title of Don 
Carlos, and accepted as such by the servile nobility of 
Tezcoco. 

It will be remembered that there were three possible 
heirs to the throne of Tezcoco at the death of Nezahual- 
pilli, children of his favorite wife (see Chap. VI.). They 
were named Cacamatzin, Coanocotzin, and Cuicuicatzin. 
Another son, born of the second wife, was Ixtlilxochitl, 
whose warlike character and rebellious proceedings have 
already been noted. He was now lying in wait for events 
at his capital in the mountains, Otompan. The second 
son, Coanocotzin, was best entitled to the throne on the re- 
moval of Cacamatzin ; but it was concluded that the other 
brother would be a more pliant instrument in the hands of 
Montezuma and Cortez. Having been elevated to the 
throne through their combined efforts he was expected to 
render them aid whenever required. 

By skilful strategy, Cortez soon got possession of the 
lords of the principal cities of the valley, the King of 
Tlacopan, and the high priest of Tlaltelolco. But one 
thing now remained to secure, as he thought, the entire 
kingdom to his will. This was to compel Montezuma, his 
nobles, and lords, to acknowledge themselves as vassals of 
the Emperor of Spain, Charles V., then a dissolute youth 
of nineteen ! 



Vassals of the King of Spain. 1^^ 

Montezuma summoned his nobles and tributary lords, 
and, at the suggestion of Cortez, explained to them his 
reasons for believing the Spaniards to be the long-pre- 
dicted " children of the sun," and the King of Spain the 
lawful descendand of Quetzalcoatl, god of the air, who 
were to return to Mexico to rule the country. This, it is 
stated that he told them ; but there is every reason for 
believing that this god-of-the-air theory had long since 
exploded, so far as it could be applied to the Spaniards. 
Far from exhibiting that love for peace and desire to pro- 
mote happiness, which were attributes of the god of the air, 
they had shown themselves men of blood, full of lust, and 
fit servants of that prince of darkness who is supposed to 
reside in the depths of the infernal regions. However, 
Montezuma was now a willing tool in the hands of Cortez 
for the enslaving of his people. He repeated to his nobles 
what the Spaniard directed, and they assented, declaring 
themselves vassals of the new king, though with sobs, and 
sighs, and groans, weeping and lamenting the fall of their 
own mighty empire. Now a slave, Montezuma had done 
his best to rivet the fetters upon the limbs of his faithful 
subjects. Low, indeed, had now sunk the great and 
terrible Montezuma ! 

Other indignities were in store for him and for his 
people. The treasure of Axayacatl, his revered father, was 
now requested of him, as tribute to that unknown being 
beyond the sea; he gave it. "Take it," said he, when 
Cortez informed him that some of the soldiers had been 
pilfering from it — "take it all ; provided they do not touch 
the images of the gods, nor anything destined for their 
worship, they may take as much as they please." And 
take it they did, we may be very sure. They were three 
days sorting and distributing the articles of gold, which 
were wrought in elegant shapes. Most of it they melted 



2/8 Mexico. 

down, but there were some rich ornaments of such 
exquisite workmanship that even these savage soldiers had 
respect for their great beauty, and resolved to send them 
to the King of Spain as they were. It was all weighed and 
divided, and it was thought that, exclusive of the gold and 
silver ornaments reserved, there was the value of 60,000 
crowns in gold alone ! In dividing it the cunning Cortez 
took good care that he and his captains should secure the 
lion's share. He first laid aside one-fifth for the king, 
another fifth for himself, another portion towards the 
expenses of the expedition, another for some imaginary 
agents in Spain, another for the soldiers in Vera Cruz — 
who never got it ! — a goodly share for each of the captains 
and the " reverend father of mercy ; " so that when it 
came down to the poor soldiers of the rank and file there 
was nothing worth having. 

The captains got the native goldsmiths to make them 
chains of gold, and Cortez ordered a golden service of 
plate ; but the miserable soldiers soon gambled away what 
little they had obtained with cards, which they made from 
a worn-out drumhead. 

Montezuma also had sent out guides with small parties 
of Spaniards, who found out all the rich gold mines and 
rivers containing golden sands, so that there was soon 
collected an amount of treasure almost beyond calculation. 

"Take this gold," said he, " which is all I now can col- 
lect on so short a notice, and also the treasure which I 
derived from my ancestors, and which I now give you, and 
send it to vour monarch ; and let it be recorded in vour 
annals that this was the tribute of his vassal^ Montezuma^ 

With noble scorn, he looked upon the quarrels of these 
freebooters over a little gold ; with noble disregard of 
wealth, he gave these ruffians all he had — all the accu- 
mulations of his ancestors for generations past ! Yet, they 



The Spaniards Ordered to Leave. 279 

were not satisfied ; though they pulled off their helmets in 
his presence and obsequiously thanked him for these royal 
gifts, doubtless they would have served him as they later 
did his nephew, Guatemotzin, — have burned his feet to a 
crisp, — if more gold could have been extracted from him 
in this way. 

Now the Spaniards were exultant, but their rejoicings 
were of short duration. The nobles had at least succeeded 
in awakening the people to a sense of the degradation of 
their monarch, and the necessity of expelling these foreign- 
ers from their country. The priests at last informed Mon- 
tezuma that the gods looked upon his conduct with disap- 
proval, that they had threatened to withhold rain and to 
destroy them entirely unless the Spaniards were driven 
forth. His nobles also had consultations with him, in the 
last of which they had told him it was impossible to restrain 
the people longer. 

Cortez was sent for and the unwelcome intelligence com- 
municated to him, in a constrained manner, by Monte- 
zuma. After many expressions of affection and regret, he 
said, " Hitherto I have willingly entertained you at my 
court, have even been so desirous of the pleasure of your 
company and conversation as to live here amongst you. 
As for my own part, I would retain you here without any 
charge, daily making you experience some fresh proofs of my 
good-will towards you ; but it cannot be done, neither will my 
gods permit it, nor my subjects endure it. I find I am 
threatened with the heaviest punishments of heaven if I let 
you remain any longer in my kingdom ; and such discon- 
tent already prevails among my vassals that unless I quickly 
remove the cause it will be altogether impossible to pacify 
them. Wherefore it is become necessary for my own safety 
as well as yours, and the good of all the kingdom, that you 
prepare yourselves to return to your native country." 



28o Mexico. 

Though greatly enraged at this command, and really 
fearful that it might be enforced, Cortez suggested an expe- 
dient for delay, requesting time to build three ships to carry 
him and his troops from the country; He promised to 
leave as soon as they were done, and at once despatched his 
carpenters to the coast, hoping that something might' occur 
meanwhile which would enable him to remain. 

It was not long after that Montezuma sent for him again, 
telling him with joy that he need defer his departure no 
longer, as a fleet of eighteen vessels had arrived on the 
coast. Cortez examined the paintings by which this news 
was conveyed, and found it was really true. He was at 
first rejoiced at this, as was Montezuma, for he imagined 
these vessels to contain reinforcements and munitions of 
war from Cuba or San Domingo ; but when letters arrived 
from the governor of the port he found out his mistake — 
it was an armament sent agaiiist him instead of for him. 

There were eleven ships, seven brigantines, eighty-five 
horses, eight hundred infantry, five hundred sailors and a 
great quantity of ammunition, all under the command of 
Panfilo de Narvaez, a noted soldier, who afterwards perished 
in Florida. This vast armament was sent by Velasquez, 
Governor of Cuba, against Cortez, as a rebel and traitor to 
the King of Spain. 

Then did this intrepid man exhibit the stuff that he was 
made of ; he received the news without flinching, in the 
presence of Montezuma, and told him the arrival was that 
of expected succor. But Montezuma soon had truthful 
reports as to the nature of the expedition, as Narvaez sent 
to inform the king himself that he had heard of the indig- 
nities that had been heaped upon him, and was coming with 
his army to rescue him, and to punish Cortez and his 
brutal soldiery. 

The wonderful energy and courage of Cortez sustained 



Cortez defeats Narvaez. 2^x 

him in the demand now made upon him for extraordinary 
exertion and sagacity. He soon decided upon a course of 
action ; he tried to effect with Narvaez a junction of forces 
against the Mexicans as a common enemy, or division of the 
territory between them ; in both of which he failed. Narvaez 
would listen to nothing ; he would seize Cortez as a traitor 
and send him to Cuba. 

Then Cortez acted. Leaving but one hundred and forty 
soldiers as garrison in Mexico, he took two hundred and 
fifty and started for the coast, passing through Cholula and 
Tlascala. It was a distance of quite two hundred and fifty 
miles, but he soon traversed it. With his trained and war- 
scarred veterans he attacked the forces of Narvaez, en- 
camped in the town of Cempoalla, and defeated them. Two 
hundred and fifty men captured four times their number ! 
Not many were killed, some were wounded, and Narvaez 
himself lost an eye. It was a gallant fight on the part of 
Cortez' men, but the army of Narvaez was disaffected. 
Cortez had secretly despatched messengers to the princi- 
pal officers with rich presents ; the soldiers had been told 
of the immense booty awaiting them if they should join him 
and march with him to Mexico; and last, "our reverend 
father of the Order of Mercy," Parson Olmedo, had been 
among them, with the gold of Cortez in his hand and his 
own oily tongue in his head, both which were used to the 
best advantage of his commander. 

Cortez now commanded nearly two thousand men, 
eighteen vessels and nearly a hundred horses. He was 
himself again, with fortune smiling upon him. He pre- 
pared troops and expeditions to explore the coast and 
establish colonies, and was about setting in motion a train 
of great discoveries when evil news came down from the 
table-land, from Mexico, two hundred miles away. 

Among the captains of Cortez there was one named 



2B2 



Mexico. 



Alvarado, a man brave even to rashness, fiery and impulsive. 
He had been left in charge of the one hundred and forty 
men, at the departure of Cortez for the coast, with the 
admonition to act prudently and to do nothing to oifend 
the Mexicans. 

He had been a favorite with Montezuma and his attend- 
ants because of his jovial disposition and pleasing manners. 
They had bestowed upon him the appellation, Toftatiuh — 
the sun — because of his fiery hair and ruddy complexion. 




PEDRO DE ALVARADO. 



To Tonatiuh, then, Cortez had left the command of the 
little garrison, recommending him to Montezuma and the 
nobles. While Cortez was away, the feast of the War God 
fell due, in the month of May, and as it was customary for 
the king to dance with the priests and nobles at this festival, 
the latter sent to Alvarado asking that he would allow 
Montezuma to join them in the temple for that purpose. 
Alvarado refused this request, and so they swallowed their 
indignation and performed the ceremonies in the courtyard 



Alvarados Atrocities. 283 

of the palace in which Montezuma was confined and which 
the Spaniards and Tlascallans occupied. Here were several 
hundred of the highest order of nobility, wearing their 
richest ornaments and dressed in most gorgeous garments. 
Whether it was that the avaricious Alvarado desired to 
secure the wealth of ornament that the nobles wore, or 
whether he was incited by the suspicious whispers of the 
Tlascallan allies, is not known ; but, for some wicked reason, 
he fell upon them with his troops and massacred them all ! 
Unsuspicious of danger, and excited with the religious 
performances of their sacred dances, the nobles became so 
fatigued that they could offer no resistance to the fierce 
Spaniards, and fell like sheep before a pack of wolves. 
Blood flowed in streams ; their piteous cries for mercy, 
their groans, their dying shrieks, filled the air. When all 
was over, Alvarado and his men stripped their innocent 
victims of their gold and jewels, and thrust their bodies 
into the street or buried them in the court. 

After the first thrill of horror at this revolting deed an 
ominous silence pervaded the city ; then there ensued the 
gathering of a mighty storm ; the outraged people assembled 
and dashed against the palace with the fury of a whirlwind. 
They beat down the walls and poured through the breach, 
and were beaten back by the artillery and musketry only 
to return again and again. Surely the Spaniards would 
have been utterly destroyed had not the recreant Montezuma 
showed himself upon the walls, and begged his people to 
desist from further attack. Sullenly they withdrew, re- 
solved to exterminate the villains by famine, and cut off 
from them their supplies. 

This was the condition of things when the messengers 
reached Cortez. With all his troops, and in forced marches, 
he hastened to the rescue. 



2S4 Mexico. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE DISASTROUS RETREAT FROM MEXICO. 

[A.D. 1520.] With thirteen hundred Spanish infantry, 
two thousand Tlascallans, and near one hundred horse, 
Cortez, a second time, entered the Aztec capital, on the 
twenty-fourth of June, 1520. 

Montezuma hastened to meet him, congratulating him 
upon his return with augmented forces ; but Cortez, either 
swelled with pride, or affecting to believe the king guilty 
of having secretly treated with Narvaez, ignored him en- 
tirely. Grieved and angry, Montezuma retired to his quar- 
ters. It having been stated to Cortez that the failure in 
the supply of provisions was owing to the imprisonment of 
Cuitlahuatzin, he was induced to release him ; an act fatal 
to the Spaniards, as subsequent events will show. It is 
thought that Cortez had under his command at this time 
an army, including the Tlascailan allies, of about nine 
thousand men. Cuitlahuatzin was brother to Montezuma, 
and general of the Mexican armies, which, upon his release, 
he at once commenced to assemble. On the very next day 
the Spaniards were made sensible of their error in releas- 
ing this brave prince, as the populace stormed their quar- 
ters, and sent in upon them such a tempest of darts and 
arrows that the pavement of the court and the terraces 
were completely covered with them. A force sent out to 
repel them was driven back with loss, and upon a second 
attempt were drawn into an ambuscade, the Mexicans 
affecting to retreat, and then turning upon them and inflict- 



Montezuma Advises a Retreat. 285 

ing great slaughter. They set fire to the roofs of the 
palace, opened a breach in one of the walls, and poured 
into it with such tumultuous fury that they were only driven 
back by the incessant play of the Spanish artillery. On 
the morning of the next day, the twenty-sixth of June, the 
Mexicans renewed the fight with terrible energy. Cortez 
sallied out with the whole force, but though he destroyed 
great numbers of the enemy, he was forced to retreat with 
considerable loss. Montezuma, from a terrace of the pal- 
ace, saw his brother fighting at the head of the Mexican 
troops, and this sight filled him with anguish and despair. 
He saw in the victory of either party the loss to him of his 
throne, and probably of his life ; but, true to his sympathies 
with the Spaniards, and magnanimously ignoring the great 
affront put upon him by the Spanish commander, advised 
Cortez to secure, if possible, his retreat. Cortez, though 
he had so recently scorned the friendly offices of the 
deposed emperor, gladly listened to this advice, upon 
which, however, he was unable to act. He was unable 
even to make an impression upon the multitude of his foes, 
though the artillery and musketry mowed them down in 
heaps. In such vast numbers did they come that they 
boasted they could afford to lose a hundred lives for every 
Spaniard killed; indeed, they considered that number a 
cheap sacrifice for the death of one of their hated foes. 
Not only in the great square and in the streets did the 
Spaniards suffer from the missiles of the Mexicans, but a 
galling fire was turned upon them, in the court of the 
palace, from the neighboring roof-tops and terraces. In 
order to protect his soldiers from the annoying fire, Cortez 
constructed three large machines, called manias, each one 
large enough to contain twenty soldiers, and mounted on 
wheels. With these he hoped to be able to approach the 
houses and walls under cover, but upon the first trial they 



286 Mexico. 

proved ineffective, for the huge stones thrown against them 
crushed the roofs and the soldiers beneath them. The 
most disastrous and deadly discharge of arrows and darts 
now came from an unexpected quarter. Towering above 
the great square and above the palace, which bounded the 
western side of this square, rose the vast temple-pyramid. 
Upon the summit platform of this massive structure, five 
hundred Mexican nobles fortified themselves, and from it 
launched a shower of arrows, stones, and darts. This 
commanding position it was necessary should be taken, 
and Cortez sent a hundred men against it, who were finally 
driven back after three vigorous attempts. Then he de- 
termined to lead the assault in person, and though suffer- 
ing from a severe wound in his left hand, he tied his shield 
to his left arm, and, brandishing his sworcl, called upon his 
men to follow. Furious at this attack upon their sanctu- 
ary, the Mexicans rallied about their imperilled nobles in 
vast numbers ; four or five thousand rushed immediately 
into the enclosure and up to the steps of the great pyra- 
mid, defending it with lances, slings, and javelins. The 
fight waged here was the bloodiest that had yet taken 
place ; the carnage was awful ; the smooth and polished 
pavement of the enclosure was sliiDpery with human blood, 
so that the horses of the cavalry could not keep their foot- 
ing, and upon the infantry devolved the burden of the bat- 
tle. Animated by a common resolve to defend their no- 
bles, their priests, and their gods, now in such imminent 
danger, the Mexicans fought with incredible bravery. Step 
by step the Spaniards ascended the terraces of the temple, 
every man covered with blood, and engaged in a hand-to- 
hand conflict with the defenders. At last they reached 
the broad platform of the pyramid, where were gathered 
the priests and the flower of the Mexican nobility, who, 
reduced to their last extremity, fought with the desperation 



The Fight on the Teocalli. 287 

of despair. It was of no avail, the mail-clad warriors, in 
their coats of impenetrable steel, bore everything before 
them ; and though it was three hours before the termina- 
tion of this dreadful conflict, they finally succeeded in set- 
ting fire to the temples of the gods. Though some writers 
have affirmed that every priest and noble here perished at 
the point of the sword, it seems more probable that, after 
setting fire to the adoratories, the Spaniards retreated, pur- 
sued unrelentingly by the remnant of the nobility. At 
least, they were soon driven to their quarters in great con- 
fusion, with the loss of fifty killed, and nearly all the 
survivors covered with wounds. The greater part of this 
heroic action was carried on upon the summit of the pyra- 
mid, more than one hundred feet above the pavement of 
the square, and many of the combatants were hurled from 
the terraces, and trampled upon by the fighting crowd 
below. 

They found their quarters partially in possession of the 
Mexicans, whom wdth great difficulty they succeeded, in 
driving out. They had beaten down the walls, and the 
night was spent in repairing the breaches, burying the 
dead, and caring for the wounded. Their prospects were 
dismal in the extreme, for their provisions were nearly 
exhausted, each soldier having but half an allowance, 
nearly all of them were wounded ; and while their numbers 
steadily diminished those of the enemy continued to 
increase. 

The next morning the enemy renewed the attack, 
endeavoring to set fire to the buildings, storming the walls, 
and showering upon them countless thousands of. stones 
and arrows. They even penetrated into the great court 
of the palace, engaging the Spaniards hand to hand ; in 
this extremity Cortez sent to Montezuma desiring him to 
show himself to his subjects and try to induce them to 



288 Mexico. 

desist from their attacks. The scorned and insulted 
monarch, plunged into the deepest dejection, at first 
refused, saying, " I neither desire to hear him, nor to live 
any longer, since it is on his account I have been reduced 
to this unhappy fate." But he was at length persuaded to 
exhibit himself, and, attended by some of the soldiers, he 
went out upon the terraced roof in sight of his people 
below. 

As soon as they perceived him, the chief and nobles 
commanded their troops to refrain from the attack. The 
tumult ceased, and in silence, many of them on bended 
knees, the multitude awaited what he had to say. His 
first utterance, requesting them to disperse and return to 
their homes and allow the Spaniards egress unmolested 
from the city, showed them that his heart was still with the 
hated visitors who had him in their power. He was soon 
interrupted, and four of the principal nobility, advancing, 
reproached him with his effeminacy, telling him that they 
had raised his brother to the throne, that they had promised 
their gods never to desist until the Spaniards were totally 
destroyed ; but that they prayed daily for his safety, and as 
soon as they had rescued him they should venerate him as 
before. They had, however, no sooner finished their 
speech, than one of the Mexicans, thought to have been a 
nephew of Montezuma, commenced to revile him, lamenting 
the misfortunes of his family, and in the heat of his anger 
let fly an arrow at him. This was but a signal to the 
populace, who had stood undecided what to do, and 
immediately their stones and arrows rained like hail about 
the person of his majesty. Sacred no longer from the 
attacks of those who had once held him in fear and reverence, 
and without the protection of the shields of the soldiers, 
who, now too late, sprang forth to interpose them, 
Montezuma was wounded. A stone struck him on the 



Death of Montezuma. 289 

head, another on the leg, and an arrow pierced his arm, and, 
bruised and bleeding, he was borne below. There he 
lingered a few days, refusing all nourishment, assistance 
and sympathy, until death finally came to his relief. Thus 
perished the great Montezuma, in the fifty-fourth year of 
his age, and in the eighteenth of his reign, after having 
been six months a prisoner. 

Weak as he was in the defence of his people, superstitious 
and cruel as he was in the practice of his religion, we 
cannot but lament this unfortunate termination of his life. 
In many noble qualities he far transcended those men by 
whom he was surrounded at the time of his death, who, 
though they had made him prisoner, bewailed the departure 
of a being so generous and so magnanimous. Of his 
children who survived him, three perished on the terrible 
night of the retreat, while from two others, a son and a 
daughter, descended the noble houses of Montezuma. 
The kings of Spain " granted many privileges to the 
posterity of Montezuma on account of the unparalleled 
service rendered by that monarch in voluntarily incorpo- 
rating a kingdom so great and rich as Mexico with the 
crown of Castile." 

His body was delivered to the nobility, who, with much 
mourning and lamentation, burned it with the usual cere- 
monies, and the ashes were buried at Chapultepec. The 
people now attacked the besieged with greater violence, if 
possible, than before, threatening them that within the space 
of two days they should all pay with their lives for the death 
of their king, for they had chosen a sovereign whom they 
could not deceive as they had the good Montezuma. Not- 
withstanding the fact that the Spaniards made frequent 
sallies from the palace into the city, in one of which they 
destroyed many houses and barricades, they could not 
succeed in opening a clear road for their retreat. 



290 Mexico. 

The death of Montezuma occurred on the twenty-ninth 
or thirtieth of June ; on the first of July it was determined, 
by Cortez and his captains in council, to retreat from the 
city. The preparations for that event were immediately 
commenced. The road to Tacuba, a town on the mainland, 
being the shortest, was selected as the route of departure. 
As the bridges crossing the several canals had been re- 
moved by the Mexicans, Cortez ordered a bridge of wood 
to be made, which, carried by forty men, could be laid 
across the ditches as necessity might require. Owing to 
the predictions of an astrologer, contrary to the dictates of 
military science, it was decided to commence the retreat at 
iiight, in as secret a manner as possible, after the Mexi- 
cans should have desisted from their daily attack upon the 
palace. The gold and treasure of Montezuma was brought 
into the great saloon, and after entrusting the fifth belong- 
ing to the King of Spain to the proper officers, Cortez gave 
permission to his soldiers to load themselves with the 
remainder, cautioning them, however, that such a burden 
might prove their death during the retreat, and that it 
would be much better to abandon it all to the enemy. 
Unheeding his advice, many of the soldiers loaded them- 
selves heavily with the treasure, and were the first to fall 
in the pursuit that soon followed. 

[A.D. 1520.] A little before midnight, on the first of 
July, the army of the besieged emerged from the gates of 
the palace. In advance went the bearers of the temporary 
bridge, in charge of a detachment of five hundred men; 
the vanguard, commanded by the indomitable Sandoval, 
consisted of two hundred infantry and twenty cavalry. 
Next came the prisoners, the servants, females and baggage, 
protected by a hundred infantry and several hundred of the 
allies ; the rear-guard, containing a greater portion of the 
Spanish troops, was in charge of the dashing Alvarado. 



The Midnight Retreat. 291 

Cortez and a few chosen officers galloped along the line 
ready to render assistance where it was most needed, while 
the great body of the allies was distributed amongst the three 
divisions of the army. The night was dark and rainy, and 
hid their operations from the enemy, but it was impossible, 
of course, to conceal the departure of such a host, of nine 
thousand men, with artillery, horses, and baggage, from 
their wary and suspicious foes. 

They crossed the great square in silence and in safety ; 
they reached the first canal, where the portable bridge was 
placed in position ; the artillery, some of the cavalry, and 
the Tlascallans in charge of the king's gold, the vanguard, 
Cortez, and many of his officers, had crossed the canal, 
when their ears were saluted by dismal sounds. The alarm 
was given ; the priests watching on the temple gave notice 
to the people by blowing trumpets and sounding the great 
drum of serpent-skin that hung above the altar of their 
war-god. They were instantly attacked by the enemy, who 
sprang like apparitions from the lake, from the canals, from 
canoes, and from every street. All was confusion, the rear- 
guard, dashing forward to escape the multitude of enemies 
that now fell upon them, crowded upon those in front ; 
cavalry, artillery, baggage, prisoners, infantry, all were 
driven together in a struggling, disorganized mass. The 
vanguard was halted by an open canal in front, behind the 
rear-guard was the wooden bridge, but so wedged and 
fastened in position by the weight that had passed over it, 
that it was impossible to remove it. The slaughter that 
then ensued was horrible ; completely at the mercy of the 
Mexicans, the unfortunate Spaniards and their allies were 
pierced with lances and arrows, hewn down with swords 
taken from their own soldiers, and hundreds of them taken 
prisoners and hurried off to be sacrificed to the Mexican 
deities. Then was the dead emperor avenged ; then did 



292 Mexico. 

the Mexicans glut their long-repressed desires for blood. 
Upon the night air rose the shrieks and groans of the 
wounded and dying, and the appealing cries of the un- 
fortunate victims, who were dragged into the canoes and 
carried off to be murdered upon the sacrificial stone. The 
second canal finally became so filled with the dead and dy- 
ing, horses, baggage, and artillery, that those remaining 
alive in this terrified throng found a passage over them 
across the water and hurried along the causeway to the 
third canal. This soon became filled like the other with 
dead and wounded prisoners and soldiers, and over this 
horrible bridge the wretched remnant of the army escaped 
to solid land, Cortez and his captains, those who were at 
liberty to do so, clapped spurs to their horses and galloped 
along the causeway. 

In the courts of a small place called Popotla, the remains 
of which may be seen at this day, the survivors of the van- 
guard halted to await information of their miserable com- 
rades. Cortez and a few of the cavalry went back as far 
as the first canal, and there met the captain, Alvarado, 
wounded and on foot, Umping along with his lance in his 
hand. He had with him but fifteen or twenty soldiers of 
the rear-guard, and they told Cortez it was vain to wait 
for more, as all had perished. When Cortez learned this 
it is said that the tears ran from his eyes, for there were in 
the rear-guard nearly one hundred and fifty of his bravest 
soldiers, besides one of the most gallant of his captains, 
Velasquez de Leon, whom he dearly loved. Alvarado told 
them that, after the horses had been killed, about eighty of 
them collected in a body and forced the second canal upon 
the corpses of the slain ; he, himself, if we may believe his 
own story, saved his life by a tremendous leap ; placing his 
lance at the bottom of a canal he vaulted across the broad 
space to the other side. This story, whether false or true, 



TJie Mexicans Obtain Revenge. 



293 



has given a name to the place where this event is said to 

have occurred, as it is 
known even to-day as the 
" Leap of Alvarado " — el 
Salto de Alvarado. 

Finding from the infor- 
mation given by Alvarado 
that they were not to ex- 
pect any 
more of their 
c o m - 




ors, these 
distressed 
f ugi t iv e s 
hastily assembled 
themselves together for 
defence against the in- 
habitants of the sur- 
rounding country. In- 
cited by messengers from 
the Mexican capital, the In- 
dians were now rising upon 
TREE OF LA NocHE TRisTE. ^11 sldcs of thcm, and it 
seemed as if no power on earth could save them from 
total annihilation. There is in this little village where 



294 Mexico. 

they made their first halt, near the present town of Tacuba, 
a giant cypress-tree, beneath which, it is said, Cortez sat 
awliile and wept at the loss of his soldiers. That terrible 
night of the retreat being known as la Noche Triste — or 
the sorrowful night — this great cypress, still standing, is 
called " the tree of the sorrowful night." 

Well may Cortez have wept, not only at the loss of his 
soldiers, but at the almost total ruin which had over- 
taken his army. More than one-half of the Spanish 
army had fallen, more than four thousand of their Indian 
allies, almost all the prisoners, and the men and women, 
who were in the service of the Spaniards. Four of their 
most noted captains also had been killed, and among the 
prisoners slain were a brother, a son, and two daughters of 
Montezuma, a daughter of Prince Maxicatzin, and finally, 
the noble Cacamatzin, King of Tezcoco, who had been 
deposed by Cortez and Montezuma. Among the officers 
left to Cortez were his brave and trusty captains, Sandoval, 
Alvarado, Olid, Ordaz, Avila, and Lugo, and besides these 
his interpreter, Aguilar, and his mistress, Marina. 

Dejected, wearied, most of them bleeding from terrible 
wounds, the unfortunate Spaniards made their way into the 
country. Had the Mexicans then pursued them they would 
have been entirely destroyed, not a life would have been 
saved ; but for some unaccountable reason they ceased their 
pursuit at the end of the causewa}^, returning to care for 
the wounded and pay funeral honors to the dead. 

Nine miles west of the capital of Mexico is a hill, which 
the Spaniards reached on the day after the defeat, and 
where they fortified themselves for the night ; here they 
obtained a little repose and a small amount of food from 
the neighboring Indians. Many years later, a small chapel 
was erected here in memory of their deliverance. The 
next day thev were so famished that they ate a horse which 



The Battle at Otumba. 295 

had been killed that day by the enemy, and the Tlascallans 
threw themselves upon the earth to eat the roots of the 
grass, hnploring the assistance of their gods. By general 
consent they directed their way towards Tlascala, many 
miles distant, a single Indian their only guide. They pro- 
ceeded but slowly, impeded by the wounded and continually 
annoyed by the enemy. 

Several days had passed, when they reached the plain of 
Otumba^ not- far from the great pyramids of the Sun and 
Moon, — see Chap. II., pp. 35, 36, — and here they beheld 
a sight that caused them justly to fear that their last days 
had come. The whole plain was covered with the hosts of 
the enemy, not less, it is thought, than one hundred thousand 
in number, who presented a most glorious appearance, with 
waving plumes and weapons shining in the sun. To the 
Spaniards it seemed hopeless to attempt even to defend 
themselves, but they formed their shattered ranks and 
bravely met the onset of their foes. It would have gone 
hard with them indeed had not Cortez at a critical moment 
killed the general of this immense army and seized their 
royal banner, upon which the superstitious Indians turned 
and fled. This was justly considered one of their most 
famous victories ; but though they made great slaughter of 
the enemy they dared not pursue them far, and resumed 
their march to Tlascala, which they entered on the tenth day 
after their disastrous defeat. They were received by the 
Tlascallans with a kindness they had no reason to expect, 
for of the total number killed during the retreat from 
Mexico, more than four-fifths were natives of this republic. 
Though lamenting the deaths of their friends and relations, 
these devoted people did not do more than mildly blame 
the Spaniards, chiding them only for not listening to their 
warnings of Mexican treachery. They gave them their 
deepest sympathies, took them into their houses, furnished 
them with nurses and surgeons, v/ho cured their wounds , 



296 Mexico. 

and, thus protected and cherished by these noble Indians, 
the Spaniards slowly recovered from the effects of their 
late disasters. 

Passing in review the losses sustained by the Spanish 
army we find the numbers of the slain variously stated, but 
they probably amounted, up to the time of their arrival in 
Tlascala, to not much less than nine hundred men, besides 
at least five times that number of their unfortunate allies. 
All the gold, except that saved for the king's' portion, had 
been lost in the ditches of Mexico, and the soldiers found 
themselves impoverished, as well as wounded, and enfeebled 
by their long privations. The esteem and compassion of 
their hospitable friends seemed in nowise to abate after 
several weeks' residence, and even the prince, Maxicatzin, 
whose daughter had perished through their neglect, was 
their most ardent supporter. It was not long before the 
fidelity of the Tlascallans was put to a severe test by the 
arrival of an embassy from the King of Mexico, with a 
large present of cotton, fine feathers and salt, desiring that 
they would enter into an alliance with him to expel the 
murderous invaders of their soil. He urged that, although 
they had been enemies in the past, their unity of language 
and religious belief should unite them against this common 
foe, who, as they had seen, had violated every sacred law 
of honor, sacrificed the lives of their friends to their lust 
for gold, and had perfidiously murdered the great and 
generous Montezuma, If they would enter into such an 
alliance they should forever enjoy free commerce with their 
neighbors, and their gods would grant them success in 
every undertaking; but if, on the contrary, they should 
receive and harbor these bloodthirsty strangers, they should 
be forever accursed and branded with infamy. The Tlas- 
callan senate disputed long and earnestly, but finally re- 
jected these overtures of the Mexicans, and voluntarily 
renewed their allegiance as vassals to the King of Spain. 



TJie Siege of Mexico. 297 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE SIEGE OF MEXICO. 

[A. D. 1520.] The Mexican capital, during the time the 
Spaniards were recuperating at Tlascala, was a scene of 
incessant activity. Knowing the character of Cortez and 
his companions : that they would some day return to avenge 
their defeat, the inhabitants lost no time in putting their 
city in a condition to resist them. Undismayed by the dis- 
tressing losses of the past year, the death of their king, and 
the greater part of their nobility, the destruction of some of 
their principal temples and important buildings, they bent 
every energy to the repairing of the ravages caused by the 
Spaniards. 

Cuitlahuatzin, whom they had elected king to succeed 
his brother, Montezuma, was the general of the army, and 
a man of great talents and sagacity ; his military skill and 
great bravery had given him a reputation throughout all 
Mexico ; he exhibited his energy and talents for diplomacy 
by immediately despatching embassies to every province of 
the empire, promising to relieve from tribute all those who 
would unite in the defense of the crown. It was he who 
had sent the embassadors to Tlascala soliciting their alle- 
giance. He repaired the buildings and fortifications of the 
capital ; and it is believed that had he lived Mexico would 
not have been taken upon the return of the Spaniards. 

[Summer of 1520.] Unfortunately, he reigned but a few 
months, for he soon fell a victim to small-pox, a disease 
that had been introduced into Mexico in the person of a 



298 Mexico. 

slave in the army of Narvaez ; but one of the many curses 
brought by those adventurers from the Old World to the 
inhabitants of the New. This dreadful scourge spread 
throughout the whole Mexican empire, and many thousands 
perished, and in many instances whole towns and cities were 
depopulated. Though the Spaniards do not appear to have 
suffered much themselves from this dread disease they were 
the means of bringing to this unhappy country, yet many of 
their Indian friends, especially the Cempoallans, fell a prey 
to it, and many of the Tlascallans, including the great chief, 
their friend Maxicatzin. 

As successor to Cuitlahuatzin the Mexicans chose his 
nephew, a spirited young man of about twenty-five years, 
named Guatemotzm as their king, and under this intrepid 
man, the eleventh King of Mexico, the capital was placed 
in a posture of defence. Cortez himself was not idle, for 
as soon as his wounds were cured by the Indian surgeons, 
he commenced preparations for a renewal of his designs 
upon Mexico. He sent to the coast for such reinforcements 
and supplies as the commander at Vera Cruz could spare, 
and in order to allay a feeling of discontent which was 
becoming general in the army, he marched his men upon 
the neighboring refractory tribes. He subjugated a prov- 
ince on the borders of Tlascala, the inhabitants of which 
had murdered some Spaniards on their way to Vera Cruz, 
and marched from city to city, inflicting great punishment, 
declaring many of their citizens slaves and branding them 
with hot irons. The people of these provinces all made a 
stubborn defence, in which they were greatly assisted by 
Mexican troops ; but all to no avail ; the Spaniards were 
soon masters of all the country about Tlascala, and opened 
unobstructed routes of communication, not only with the 
coast at Vera Cruz, but with the borders of the great lake 
of Tezcoco. 



Movements of Co^tez. 299 

In one expedition, however, they lost one of their captains 
and eighty soldiers, which was a great offset to the victories 
they had gained ; and others of the soldiers becoming dis- 
contented, Cortez sent them to the coast to take passage 
for Cuba. He despatched one of his captains to the island 
of Hispaniola for arms and reinforcements, and another to 
the court of Spain with a long letter to his sovereign, 
Charles V., describing his doings up to that time, and with 
a portion of the royal treasure saved from Mexico. 

Several vessels arrived about this time with arms, ammu- 
nition and soldiers destined for a settlement on the river 
Panuco, and sent out by the Governor of Jamaica. As they 
reached the port of Vera Cruz these forces were easily 
diverted into the interior, joining Cortez, who found him- 
self much strengthened and encouraged by this important 
addition to his command. Never for a moment had this 
intrepid leader abandoned his intentions upon Mexico, and 
he now drew reinforcements'and accumulated supplies from 
every available quarter. He sent into the forests of Tlas- 
cala a noted man of his command, a most skilful shipwright, 
named Martin Lopez, with orders to get out timber for 
some brigantines. From the senate of Tlascala he obtained 
a hundred men of burden to be sent to the coast for the 
iron, sails, and rigging of the vessels he had dismantled the 
previous year. He obtained tar from the pine trees of the 
mountains, other material from various sources, and all 
this was finally transported to Tezcoco, where the brigan- 
tines were put together and launched upon the lake. He 
was now in command of forty or fifty cavalry and five hun- 
dred and fifty infantry ; and, having resolved to make his 
headquarters at the ancient capital of Tezcoco, he set out 
for that place after having been joined by ten thousand 
Indians of Tlascala. 

In two days they had passed through the mountains, and 



300 Mexico. 

on the twenty-eighth of December they again looked npon 
the beautiful valley of Mexico, from which they had been 
driven five months previous. As they approached Tezcoco 
they were met by a party of embassadors carrying a golden 
banner, which they presented to Cortez as a token of 
peace. They had been sent by Coanacotzin, King of 
Tezcoco, to invite the Spanish general to his court, and to 
request him not to commit any hostilities in his province. 
Though Cortez desired to capture the king, and to obtain 
revenge for the death of forty-five Spaniards and three 
hundred Tlascallans, who had been killed while passing 
through, laden with gold, silver, and arms for the Spaniards 
(at that time in Mexico), yet he returned him a message of 
friendship. Apprehensive of ill-treatment at the hands of 
Cortez, who had caused the death of his brother, Caca- 
matzin, and his uncle, Montezuma, the king fled to Mexico 
at night. 

Among the prisoners who escaped the slaughter on the 
night of the retreat from Mexico was Cuicuicatzin, whom 
Cortez and Montezuma had placed upon the throne of 
Tezcoco and then removed, and who, having fled from 
Tlascala to the court of Tezcoco, was killed by this same 
brother, Coanacotzin. It seems, then, that his fears re- 
specting the danger to his life from Cortez were perfectly 
justifiable, and that he did well in seeking protection at 
the Mexican court. 

[Dec. 1520.] It was on the last day of December, 
1520, that they arrived at Tezcoco, where they discovered 
things in a state of confusion ; but some of the nobles came 
up to meet them and conducted them to one of the palaces 
of the late King Nezahualcoyotl, which was large enough 
to contain twelve hundred men. Here they saw those 
temples and palaces, which have been described in previous 
chapters, and ascending one of them some of the officers 



March upon Tezcoco. 301 

beheld the women and children of the city fleeing to the 
lake border and hiding in the rushes and canoes. This 
warned Cortez to be upon his guard, as the people 
evidently meditated a revolt. Though he ordered his men 
to remain within their quarters and to commit no act 
of aggression upon the inhabitants, Cortez already had a 
large party in his favor in the friends of the youngest 
Prince of Tezcoco, Ixtlilxochitl, whom he now elevated 
to the vacant throne. This young man, whose warlike pro- 
clivities we have already referred to, was, next to the Tlas- 
callans, the ablest ally of the Spaniards, and of essential 
service to them in the subjugation of the Aztec capital. 

The city of Tezcoco, having been next to Mexico the 
most important in Anahuac, contained substantial houses 
and fortified temples and palaces. Situated upon the 
eastern shore of Lake Tezcoco, having in full sight the 
Mexican capital, but nine miles distant, and the broad 
plains behind it yielding sustenance for the support of a 
large army, this city was an advantageous position from 
which to conduct the siege of the city of the Aztecs. 

No sooner was he well established here than Cortez 
sent out various expeditions to subdue different towns and 
cities about the lake. The first of these that felt the force 
of his arms was the beautiful city of Iztapalapa, the 
magnificent gardens and buildings of which had attracted 
the attention of the Spaniards on their first approach to the 
valley. The principal motive for the destruction of this 
city was that it had been the residence of the celebrated 
Cuitlahuatzin, who had been instrumental in driving them 
from the city of Mexico. He marched upon it with more 
than two hundred soldiers and three thousand Tlascallans, 
and entered the city, the troops defending it feigning 
a retreat, and the inhabitants fleeing to their canoes. 
While they were busy sacking the city and setting fire to 



302 Mexico. 

the houses an alarm was given that the streets were under 
water and the water of the lake rapidly pouring in upon 
them. Being situated between the two great lakes and 
intersected by canals it was only necessary in order to flood 
the city to cut the dikes, and this the self-sacrificing 
inhabitants had done, preferring the destruction of their 
homes to their occupation by the hated invaders. They 
would all have been drowned had it not been for the 
timely warning by the Tlascallan sentinels, and as it was, 
some were cut off, all their booty was lost, and the army 
returned to Tezcoco in very bad humor. The city of 
Chalco, on the eastern border of a lake of the same name, 
was next delivered from the Mexican troops which occupied 
it by an army under the gallant Sandoval, and renewed its 
allegiance to the Spanish king. This was one of the most 
important cities about the lakes, being a great resort of the 
merchants. It had been often in rebellion against the 
Aztec power, and gladly seized the opportunity of freeing 
itself from their dominion. 

Information now coming down from the mountains that 
the timber for the brigantines was hewn and ready for 
transportation, Cortez sent Sandoval with two hundred men 
to guard its transportation to the lake. It was a long 
distance from the mountain forests of Tlascala to the 
borders of Lake Tezcoco, but the hardy natives, inured to 
fatigue, cheerfully carried the weight of this material, which 
was to contribute so much to the defeat of their enemies. 
Eight thousand Tlascallans carried on their backs the 
timber, ready shaped, for every part of the thirteen vessels. 
Two thousand were laden with provisions, and eight 
thousand more acted as a guard of defence. They were 
led by their valiant chieftain, Chichimecatl, until Tezcoco 
was approached, when Sandoval placed his men in the 
vanguard, and assigned the Indian chief the rear. This 



Building Vessels. 303 

gave great offence to the brave Chichimecatl, until it was 
explained to him by the Spaniards that in their country the 
rear was considered the post of honor, when his pride was 
pacified. Two days later this great body arrived at 
Tezcoco, which they entered in triumph, dressed in their 
finest regalia, wearing great plumes of feathers on their 
heads, and marching to the sound of horns, drums and 
trumpets. So long was this procession that they were six 
hours in entering the city, during which time they kept up 
their patriotic shouts of '"'' Castilla I Tlascala ! Castilla! 
Tlascalaf^ 

The timber was carried to the edge of the lake and 
deposited at the docks, where the vessels were put together 
with the greatest expedition, though the M^orkmen were con- 
stantly harassed by Mexican soldiers, who came across the 
lake in canoes, and made several attempts to destroy the 
ship-yards by fire. Owing to the vigilance of the King of 
Mexico, his troops were continually crossing the lake in 
their canoes and annoying the Spaniards and their allies, 
and every day skirmishes were passing between them. 
There was on the borders of the lake, not far from Tez- 
coco, a vast field of Indian corn, the produce of which 
usually went to the priests of Mexico. When it was time 
to reap the harvest the Mexicans crossed over in upwards 
of a thousand canoes, and attacked the allies who were 
engaged in gathering the corn with such vigor that they 
were only repulsed after a long and stubborn fight. 

While the vessels were in process of construction, Cortez 
availed himself of the presence of the Tlascallan troops, 
some thirty thousand in number, to advance around the lake 
nearly to the city of Mexico. He even penetrated as far as 
the town of Tacuba, not three miles distant from the 
capital, and reached the famous causeway where, nine 
months before, he had suffered that fatal defeat. It came 



304 



Mexico. 



near being the scene of a second disaster, for the Mexicans, 
fei""ning retreat, drew him along the causeway into an 
ambuscade, and then fell so furiously upon his troops that 
he only extricated them with the greatest difficulty. The 
Mexicans ironically invited them to enter their capital, 
assuring them that their priests were waiting to sacrifice 
them, and boasting that they would no longer find a Monte- 
zuma to deal with, but a king unaffected by bribes or 
threats. Cortez retreated to Tezcoco, followed by the 
Mexicans most of the way, who heaped insults upon his 
troops and attributed their return to cowardice. 

The province of Chalco, lying south of Tezcoco, and 
southeast of Mexico, being rich and populous, was the 
scene of continual warfare between the rival forces, each 
struggling desperately for its possession. Several times its 
capital, the city of Chalco, had been the field of bloody 
strife between the Spanish and Mexican soldiers, for no 
sooner w^ere the latter driven out than the indefatigable 
Guatemotzin again covered the lake with his war-canoes. 
At last Cortez resolved upon a general invasion of the 
province, and marching swiftly through the cities of Chalco 
and Tlalmenalco, he swept his army southward towards the 
vale of Cuernavaca. He everywhere encountered a deter- 
mined resistance. At one point, in assailing a garrison 
entrenched on the top of a steep and rocky hill, the whole 
army was kept for a time powerless by reason of the great 
rocks which the Indians rolled down upon the heads of the 
assaulting party. At another engagement the slaughter 
was so great that the waters of a small stream near which 
it took place were tinged with blood for the space of an 
hour. 

In the valley of Cuernavaca, nearly forty miles distant 
from Mexico, they found a city considered impregnable 
from the strength of its natural defences ; surrounded on 



Moving Northward. 305 

every side but one by deep ravines, it could only be 
entered by means of bridges, which were raised by the in- 
habitants as soon as they caught sight of the enemy. While 
the army was hesitating, unable to advance and much 
annoyed by the insults and arrows of the Indians on the 
opposite bank, some of the soldiers, headed by Captain 
Bernal Diaz, crossed one of the ravines upon two great 
trees^ which, growing upon opposite sides, locked their 
branches full forty feet above a rapid river. Many other 
soldiers then crossing upon this perilous bridge, the city 
was soon taken and given up to fire and pillage. 

Having received the allegiance of the lord of this city, 
Cortez faced his army northward, in the direction of 
Mexico, his objective point being the large and beautiful 
city of Xochimilco, the fourth in the valley in point of size 
and population, and celebrated far and near for the mag- 
nificence of its buildings and the beauty of its floating 
gardens. Its inhabitants only yielded after a long and 
obstinate struggle, during which they killed and wounded 
many of the attacking force. The news of the fall of this 
great and important city, situated less than twelve miles 
from the capital, having reached the ears of the King of 
Mexico, he at once despatched to it two thousand canoes 
and an army of ten thousand warriors, who nearly succeeded 
in retaking it, killing many of the Spaniards and wounding 
a great number. They also captured four of them alive 
and sent them to Mexico to be sacrificed, which being 
done, their arms and legs were exhibited as trophies in 
various parts of Anahuac. 

Having sacked the city, Cortez departed to examine the 
causeway of Iztapalapa, and thence marched upon the city 
of Coyohuacan, whence another causeway led to the city 
of Mexico. Leaving this city, which he found deserted, he 
swung his army past Chapultepec, to Tlacopan and Tacuba, 



3o6 Mexico. 

•which he thus visited for the third time. Having viewed, 
from the summit of one of the temples of Tacuba, the ever- 
memorable causeway leading thence to Mexico, he de- 
parted for Tezcoco, constantly subjected to attacks from 
flying troops of the enemy. In this long expedition the 
Spaniards marched completely around the great lakes ; and 
though their losses were large, nearly every survivor having 
received a wound, and Cortez himself having been severely 
injured and twice in danger of capture, what they had 
accomplished was of the most vital importance to the 
success of their future operations against the Mexican 
capital. 

The brigantines were now completed and ready for 
launching, for which purpose a canal, a mile and a half in 
length, twelve feet deep, and twelve broad, was dug by the 
Indian laborers, eight thousand persons having been em- 
ployed fifty days at this work. Ships, with arms, gun- 
powder, and reinforcements, had meanwhile landed on the 
coast and brought them valuable acquisitions ; among them 
was " a very holy and reverend father," bringing with him 
" bulls from the pope " to compose the consciences of the 
soldiers for the murders they had committed, and were 
about to commit, in this war for the conversion of the un- 
regenerate Mexicans. This " holy man " amassed a fortune 
in a few months, and soon returned to Spain to live at 
ease. 

About this time a conspiracy was formed against the life 
of Cortez, a party having resolved to assassinate him while 
at dinner, but this was discovered in season and the chief 
conspirator hanged, 

[April, 152 1.] On the twenty-eighth day of April, the 
thirteen brigantines,' which had cost such an immense 
amount of labor, and which were to play so important a 
part in the siege of the island-capital, were launched upon 



I 



Cortes Reviews his Forces. 



307 



the lake to the roar of artillery and the sound of military 
music. At a review of his army, made in the great square 
of Tezcoco, Cortez found it to contain eighty-six cavalry, 
seven hundred infantry, armed with sword and buckler and 
lance, and about one hundred musketeers and cross-bow 
men, with three large cannon, a thousand pounds of pow- 
der, fifteen small copper field-pieces, and a large supply of 
balls and arrows. Word was now sent to the allies, who 
quickly assembled to the number of seventy thousand men, 




GONZALEZ DE SANDOVAL. 



one of the towns in alliance also sending eight thousand 
arrow-heads of copper for the use of the cross-bow men. 
Having assembled this vast host at Tezcoco, Cortez issued 
his orders for their guidance. " First, no person to utter 
any blasphemy against the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy 
Virgin, the holy apostles, nor any other of the saints, under 
heavy penalties ; second, no soldier to ill-treat the allies, 
nor to absent himself from his quarters under any pretence ; 
every soldier to be fully provided with arms ; no soldier to 



3o8 Mexico. 

stake his horse or arms in gaming ; no soldier to sleep out 
of his armor nor without his weapons beside him ; the 
penalty of death to be inflicted for sleeping at his post, 
absence from quarters without leave, or flight in battle." 

[May, 152 1.] On the twentieth day of May, the general- 
m-chief assigned the different divisions of the army to 
their posts about the valley : Captain Alvarado, with two 
hundred soldiers, twenty thousand Tlascallans, and two 
pieces of artillery, was appointed to Tlacopan ; Captain 
Olid marched with Alvarado around the northern border 
of the lake, and beyond, to the city of Coyoacan, having 
about the same number of soldiers and cannon ; Captain 
Sandoval was given a nearly equal number of horse, infantry, 
and cannon, in order to go and possess the city of Iztapa- 
lapa. Among the thirteen brigantines were distributed 
three hundred and twenty-five men ; each vessel containing 
twelve soldiers, twelve rowers, and a copper cannon. 

An unhappy incident occurred at this time which 
deprived the Tlascallans of one of their leaders and gave 
Cortez an opportunity for committing an arbitrary and 
revengeful act. Among the native nobles who accompanied 
Alvarado was the valiant general, Xicotencatl, the same 
who had resisted so manfully the entry of the Spaniards 
into Tlascala. When the Spaniards had sought refuge in 
that republic after their expulsion from Mexico he had 
advised the senate to seize the opportunity for ridding 
their territory of such dangerous allies, being one of the 
few wise enough to foresee the evil they would bring upon 
them. By this means, though he had now joined the 
Spaniards with the forces under his command, he had 
gained the enmity of Cortez, who only waited a fitting 
time to destroy him. This time had now arrived, for 
Xicotencatl, incensed at the insulting treatment of a friend, 
who had been wounded by a Spanish officer, secretly left 



The Aztec City Invested. 309 

the army and set out for Tlascala. Cortez immediately 
sent officers in pursuit of him, giving orders to hang him 
as a traitor, which command was carried into effect in a 
small town near Tezcoco. The real motive for this 
outrageous proceeding appears, when we find that Cortez 
seized upon his family of thirty wives, and his property, a 
large part of which was jewels and gold. 

The captains, Alvarado and Olid, continued together 
with their forces as far as Chapultepec, where, after a hard 
fight with the Mexicans, they destroyed the only aqueduct, 
which supplied pure water to the capital. Then they re- 
treated to the positions respectively assigned them : Alva- 
rado to Tlacopan, and Olid to Coyoacan, while Sandoval 
proceeded by land, and Cortez by water, to Iztapalapa, 
which place they carried by storm. As soon as they were 
in possession of the city, they perceived signals of smoke 
arising, such as had been sent up by the Mexicans when 
they entered the valley, and a large fleet of canoes filled 
with warriors came out against them. A fresh breeze 
springing up at this time filled the sails of the brigantines, 
and the Spaniards bore down upon the canoes, overturning 
many of them and destroying many others with shot from 
the cannon."^' 

Captain Olid was posted on a branch of the main causeway 
that led from Iztapalapa to Mexico, and setting his forces 
in motion he joined with Sandoval at the junction of these 
roads, where there was a strong fortress in possession of 
the Mexicans. The two captains attacked this stronghold 

* In some descriptions of the launching of the brigantines of Cortez, great 
stress is laid upon the employment of sails, as though the Indians were not 
acquainted with their use. But Bernal Diaz, in describing the first that came 
out to them from Yucatan, says, " five canoes full of Indians came out with oar 
and sail," — y venian a remo y vela. And the canoe that Columbus saw off 
Guanaco in 1502 — '■'■ Elle marchait h voiles et a rames.''^ — Brasseur de 

BOURBOURG, 



3iO 



Mexico. 



by land, assisted by Cortez with his brigantines, and soon 
reduced it, committing a great slaughter of the garrison 
with their cannon. This place, known as Xoloc, Cortez 
at once seized upon for the establishment of his camp 
making it his headquarters until the close of the siege. 




CHRISTOVAL DE OLID. 



Every causeway except one was now in possession of the 
Spaniards, and this one, that leading to the north, was a 
few days later taken and held by Alvarado, thus rendering 
the investment of the city complete, and cutting off all 
communication, except by water, of the doomed inhabitants 
with the outside world. 



The Destruction of the City. 31 1 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY. 

The very day after he had become firmly fixed in his 
position, Cortez himself made an assault upon the city, 
Alvarado and Sandoval approaching it from their respective 
camps. Eighty thousand allies assisted them, yet they 
barely succeeded in penetrating to the great square, where 
they were attacked by such numbers of Mexicans that they 
fell back in confusion, leaving a cannon in possession of 
the enemy. The forces of their allies daily increased, until 
they soon amounted to above two hundj-ed and forty 
thousand. The King of Tezcoco at last joined forces with 
Cortez, sending him an army of fifty thousand men. Day 
by day, the surrounding tribes sent in their allegiance 
to Cortez, until at last the intrepid Mexicans were left 
alone to struggle single-handed against the common enemy, 
of their country. When he felt that he had his troops well 
in hand Cortez made another attack upon the city, pene- 
trating again — though over ditches and entrenchments 
valiantly defended — to the square. Ten thousand of the 
allies busied themselves in filling up the ditches in the 
causeway, while others destroyed the houses bordering it. 
Among the buildings demolished on that day were several 
temples, the great palace of Axayacatl (in which the 
Spaniards had been quartered on their first entry), and 
Montezuma's aviary, or house of birds. At this time was 
commenced that systematic tearing down of the structures 
of the city and the filling of the canals with the del}ris^ that 



3 1 2 Mexico. 

continued during the siege, and left little remaining of the 
splendid Aztec capital. A retreat to camp was with great 
difficulty effected, the Tlascallans carrying off the arms and 
legs of many Mexicans, which, we are told, they ate that 
night for their suj)per. It was impossible for Cortez to keep 
a garrison in the city to hold what he each day gained, 
owing to the fuiy of its defenders, so he instituted this 
system of daily advances from the outside posts, demolish- 
ing the buildings on the outskirts and laying waste as far 
as he went. Notwithstanding all his eft'orts to fill the 
ditches in the causeway, the Mexicans kept them open, re- 
moving everything at night that had been thrown into them 
during the day, and thus making them a great obstacle to 
a successful advance, and especially to a swift retreat. 
The first to seriously feel the disastrous effect of an 
advance into the city, with open canals in the rear, were 
the troops of Alvarado, who, in the heat of pursuit, pene- 
trated as far as the market-place. When they had "drawn 
them far enough the Mexicans turned upon them in such 
numbers that they fled in confusion. In passing one of 
the ditches, nearly fifty feet in width, several Spaniards 
were taken, and at once hurried to the great temple and 
sacrificed. As this terrible scene was enacted in sight of 
the army, it had a most depressing effect upon the soldiers, 
and taught them to act more cautiously. In ' spite of this 
dreadful warning, however, the zeal of the allies, and the 
impatience of the soldiers to get the treasures of the city 
into their hands, overcame their prudence. After twenty 
days of constant skirmishing, in which the gains, though 
slight, were sure, the Spaniards, wearied of their slow 
progress, pressed Cortez for a general assault. A council 
of war was held; it was decided to advance, from the tfiree 
different posts occupied by Cortez, Sandoval, and Alvarado, 
upon the city, with the object of meeting in the great 



A Feigned Retreat, 313 

square of the temple. All the Spanish forces, with over 
one hundred thousand of the allies, marched along the 
causeways, the brigantines and more than three thousand 
canoes protecting them on the flanks. Unknow^n to the 
Spaniards, the Mexicans had made elaborate preparations 
for their defeat. They had deepened the principal ditch, 
narrowed the causeway, and had posted a multitude of 
canoes in ambush near this difficult pass to sally out 
at a given signal to the attack. Induced by feigned 
retreats and the apparent cowardice of the Mexicans, the 
Spaniards eagerly pursued them as far as the great square, 
closely followed by their allies, wedged in dense masses 
upon the causeway. This was the moment for the wily Mexi- 
cans. Suddenly the sound of a trumpet issued from the 
temple of their war god. Inspired by this sound, the last 
call of the priests and nobles to arms, the Mexican troops 
burst forth from their places of concealment with incredible 
fury. The Spaniards and their allies could not resist this 
attack, and were at once thrown into confusion. At this 
fatal moment they saw the error they had committed, in 
allowing themselves to be drawn into the city without 
filling all the ditches that intersected the great causeway. 
Their allies only served to detain them in their retreat, and 
the Mexicans now slaughtered them without mercy. The 
canoes came out and fell upon their flank and rear, 
dragging the soldiers into the water, and hastening with 
them to the temple of sacrifice. Eighty were carried off 
in this manner, shrieking and vainly struggling in the 
clutches of their exulting foes. In the narrowest part of 
the pass Cortez was caught, was wounded in the leg, 
dragged from his horse, and came near being made a 
victim for sacrifice. If the enemy had not been so anxious 
to preserve him alive for an offering to their gods, but 
had only killed him when they had him in their power, 



314 Mexico, 

the siege of Mexico might have ended then and there. 
But while they were dragging him away, a brave soldier 
flew to his defence. With one stroke of his sword he 
cut off the arm of one of the captors, and killed four 
others, falling at last wdiile gallantly fighting. A valiant 
Tlascallan, named Temacatzin, so ably seconded the efforts 
of De Oli that Cortez was rescued, placed upon a horse 
and hurried away towards his camp, his major-domo, 
Cristoval de Guzman, falling into the hands of the enemy 
in his endeavor to save him. 

With the shattered remains of his army the wounded and 
dejected general finally reached his quarters on the cause- 
way at Xoloc, pursued by the infuriated Mexicans to the 
very gates of the fortress. More than a thousand of the 
allies and eighty or one hundred of the Spaniards were 
killed, and several boats, a piece of artillery, and seven 
horses were lost. 

Alvarado and Sandoval had not attacked so briskly as 
Cortez, and the Mexican troops that had defeated the 
latter turned upon them before they reached the centre of 
the city. As they neared them they threw down five 
bleeding heads, telling them they were those of Cortez and 
his officers ; then they attacked the discomfited Spaniards 
so desperately that they fell back in disorder. It was 
usual, in case of retreat, for the Spaniards to clear the 
causeway of their allies to prevent confusion ; but at this 
time, says the old historian, it was not necessary, " the 
sight of the bloody heads had done it effectually, nor did 
one of them remain on the causeway to impede our retreat." 
Exulting in such a glorious victory, the Mexicans cleared 
their city entirely of the last enemy ; they repaired their 
defences, and passed eight succeeding days in feastings 
and rejoicings. They threw into the camp of Cortez other 
fresh and bleeding heads, telling him they were those of 



The Mexicans Triumphant. 315 

Alvarado and Sandoval, which caused him great sorrow 
until he had ascertained by messengers that they were yet 
living. 

The cause of this defeat was the same that had conduced 
to that former one of Alvarado — the neglect to fill up the 
canals as they advanced. Cortez sought to throw the 
blame upon one of his officers, though it undoubtedly lay 
at his own door. Now, in distress, with meagre food, and 
suffering from wounds, the Spaniards were obliged to rest 
upon their arms. The Mexicans carried on the sacrifices 
of their prisoners day after day, and the horrid sight was 
in full view of the whole army. We cannot do better than 
quote the relation of an eye-witness of those scenes, brave 
Bernal Diaz. He was in the detachment commanded by 
Alvarado, which was the last attacked, and the nearest to 
the great pyramid on which the prisoners were sacrificed. 
" Before we arrived at our quarters, and while the enemy 
were pursuing us, we heard their shrill timbals and the 
dismal sound of the great drum, from the top of the 
principal temple of the god of war, which overlooked the 
city. Its mournful music was such as may be imagined 
is that of the infernal gods, and it might be heard at the 
distance of almost three leagues. They were then sacri- 
ficing the hearts of ten of our companions to their idols. 
Shortly after this the King of Mexico's horn was blown, 
giving notice to his captains that they were then to take 
their enemies prisoners, or die in the attempt. It is 
impossible to describe the fury with which they closed 
upon us when they heard this signal. Though all is as 
perfect to my recollection as if passing before my eyes, it 
is utterly beyond my power to describe ; all I can say is, 
it was God's will that we should escape from their hands 
and get back in safety to our post. Praised be He for his 
mercies, now and at all other times ! " 



3 1 6 Mexico. 

At another time, as the soldiers were sitting at rest, 
engaged in relating the events that had happened, their 
attention was attracted by the sound of the great war-drum, 
and looking up to the temple-pyramid they saw a procession 
of their unfortunate countrymen being driven up the 
winding stairs, with cuffs and blows. Their white skins 
served to distinguish them from the Indians, and they saw 
them, after being subjected to every insult, thrown upon 
the sacrificial stone, their hearts torn out and their bodies 
thrown down the steps to the greedy people in waiting 
below. Their heads, arms, and legs were sent as trophies 
of Mexican valor to every tribe throughout Anahuac, with a 
warning to them to return to their allegiance unless they 
wished to be served in a similar manner. This so terrified 
the allies that they nearly all forsook Cortez and returned 
to their homes, all except a few of the bravest of the 
Tlascallan and Tezcocan nobles. At the suggestion of 
Prince Ixtlilxochitl, Cortez now changed his tactics, and 
came to the resolution to destroy the Mexicans by famine, 
rather than waste away his troops in fruitless attacks. 
The Mexican priests committed the great error of predicting 
the total destruction of the Spaniards within a certain 
number of days. Their gods had told them that within 
eight days they were to feast upon their flesh. But in 
this case the priests had assumed too much, they had made 
one prediction too many. They should not have assigned 
a limit to the time ; for when Cortez heard of it he merely 
drew off his soldiers and rested during the entire period. 
As it expired, he caused the allies to be informed of it, 
and they came back, no longer having faith in Mexican 
forewarnings. Directly and indirectly (as we have seen) 
the priests were the cause of Mexico's downfall, even 
as they caused her repeated disaster in the centuries 
following her capture by the Spaniards. 



The Ambuscade of the Canoes. 317 

Had not famine come to the aid of the besiegers it is 
doubtful if they would have so soon marched through the 
streets of Mexico as they did. Boats and brigantines kept 
constant watch about the doomed capital, preventing access 
to water and provisions. The Mexicans were fully as well 
versed as their foes in the mysteries of stratagem ; they were 
their equals in bravery, superior to them even in the reck- 
less disregard of their lives in defence of their homes. Had 
their weapons of defence been equal to those of the Span- 
iards, the history of Mexico would to-day be a different one 
from what it is. They early displayed their talent for the 
laying of ambuscades, into which the Spanish troops often 
fell, greatly to their loss. They now prepared a successful 
ambuscade for the brigantines, those large vessels which 
annoyed them so much on the lake, along the causeways, 
and around the borders of the city. They constructed 
some very large canoes, called periaguas, covered with 
thick plank. These they filled with fighting-men and 
concealed among the floating gardens in a portion of the 
lake where the Spanish vessels were cruising to intercept 
canoes coming from the mainland with provisions. In 
front of their ambuscade they drove large stakes, deep 
enough beneath the surface to be out of sight, and yet 
forming an obstruction upon which the brigantines would 
founder or stick fast. They then sent out small canoes as 
decoys, and when the brigantines pursued them they soon 
ran afoul of these sunken stakes ; then, when they were 
in this helpless condition, the periaguas sallied out and did 
great mischief. They killed the captains of two vessels 
and wounded nearly all the crew before they could be 
extricated and the cannon on board brought into play. 
Attempting this again soon after, they were themselves 
drawn into ambush and many of their canoes destroyed. 

The intelligence that guided their operations seems to 



3i8 Mexico. 

have been one superior to that which guided the Spaniards. 
With troops similar in number and equipment, Guatemotzin 
would have been more than a match for Cortez. If we 
read of any brilliant movement or piece of strategy executed 
by the Spaniards, we shall find upon examination that it 
was suggested by their observation of the superior skill of 
the Mexicans. 

Among the prisoners captured at the second attack of the 
canoes were several nobles, who were sent by Cortez to 
Guatemotzin with a message of peace. They undertook 
this commission unwillingly, declaring that the fierce king 
would have them instantly put to death ; but, though much 
enraged at them for bringing him such proposals, he spared 
their lives, and sent them back to Cortez with a message of 
defiance. 

About this time news came from Cuernavaca and other 
frontier towns that the Malinalchese, instigated by the mes- 
sengers of the Mexicans who had been sent to them with 
the heads of the SjDaniards, were marching upon the besieg- 
ers with a large army. These were met and defeated by 
two detachments, and thus the last hope of the Mexicans of 
aid from without was taken from them. Their condition 
was most deplorable ; they were now " forsaken by all their 
friends, surrounded by enemies, and oppressed by famine." 
Not only the Spaniards were arrayed against them, but 
nearly every native kingdom and republic lying between 
the sea and the gulf. Still they were undismayed, and to 
the overtures of peace sent them by the SjDani^rds returned 
only answers breathing defiance and threatenings of the 
vengeance they would take upon them when their gods 
should have delivered them into their hands. 

The Tlascallan chief, Chichimecatl, made restless by the 
delay of the Spaniards to attack, one day entered the city 
with his own troops, carefully guarding the great ditch by 



The Different Divisions Meet in the City. 319 

his archers, and after a protracted fight, made good his re- 
treat, covered with glory, to the Spanish camp. The Mexi- 
cans revenged themselves for this insult by a night attack 
upon Alvarado, which, however, was repulsed with little 
loss. Just at this time, when their powder was running 
low, a ship arrived at Vera Cruz with a fresh supply, and, 
thus recruited, Cortez again commenced an advance into 
the city. 

As he advanced he destroyed every building, leaving not 
one behind him. One hundred and fifty thousand allies 
accompanied him and performed this work of destruction. 
As these misguided wretches were employed at this work 
of demolition, the Mexicans taunted them : " Demolish, ye 
traitors," they shouted, " lay those houses in ruin, for after- 
wards you will have the labor of rebuilding them." And, 
in truth, they did ; though the Spaniards conquered, upon 
the allies who so faithfully assisted them fell the labor 
of reconstruction. Early were they made to feel the 
weight of the chains they were unwittingly forging for their 
own limbs ! 

On the twenty-fourth day of July the Spaniards obtained 
possession of the great road passing through the city from 
Iztapalapa to Tacuba, and three-fourths of the city was 
now in their hands. A few days later Cortez joined with 
Alvarado and Sandoval, as they came in from the other sides, 
and had the inexpressible satisfaction of completing this 
junction of forces, which he had so often attempted in vain. 
A great canal separated them from the district of Tlaltelolco, 
to which the besieged were now confined. In one of the 
temples, destroyed in the progress of the march, they dis- 
covered the heads of many of their soldiers, the hair and 
beards of which, says an old veteran, were much grown 
since placed in position on the beams of the Place of Skulls. 

Repeated demands were made of the Mexicans to sur- 



320 Mexico. 

render, but they as often replied that they would continue 
the defence so long as one of them remained alive. Four 
days passed, during which crowds of wretched men, women, 
and children, emaciated and dying of hunger, came to the 
Spaniards and gave themselves up. The warriors were still 
unsubdued ; by night and by day they made their assaults, 
but they were so exhausted by hunger that they accomplished 
little harm. At last Cortez gave the signal for a general 
assault, by the firing of a musket, and the eager troops and 
ferocious Indian allies fell upon the unarmed and half- 
starved wretches so fiercely that in one day twelve thousand, 
and in another forty thousand, perished. The common 
people were ready to surrender, though thousands of them 
were butchered as they fell into the hands of their enemies ; 
but the priests and nobles, headed by their indomitable 
king, refused to submit. They prayed for death ; " If you 
are the child of the sun," said they to Cortez, " why are 
you so slow in delivering us from our calamities by death ? " 
Cortez sent to Guatemotzin an embassy with a present of 
provisions, and asking for a conference, but though returning 
assuring answers, that wily monarch was unwilling to trust 
his person within reach of one who had always hated him, 
and who had caused the murder of his uncle, Montezuma, 
though professedly his friend. Cortez promised him plen- 
itude of power and honors if he would but surrender and 
thus terminate the bloody siege ; but Guatemotzin only 
retreated farther into the fortified portion of his diminished 
capital, and stubbornly refused to listen to his words. 
Artillery was then brought up and trained upon the defence- 
less people crowded in the streets and beneath the porticoes 
of the buildings, and the allies again glutted their rage upon 
helpless men and women, who threw themselves into the 
canals, which became purple with the blood of' the slain. 
In misery and woe they were perishing by thousands, when 



Capture of Guatemotzin. 321 

it became known that the emperor, Guatemotzin, had 
escaped. The Mexican nobles had prepared canoes in 
which to flee, as a last resort, but Cortez had anticipated 
such a measure, and had ordered Sandoval, in command of 
the lake forces, to seize these boats and watch sharply for 
the royal barge itself. At the last moment, when defence 
was no longer possible, after he had exhausted every 
resource his ingenuity could suggest in resistance, the 
emperor, Guatemotzin, allowed himself to be led into a 
periagua, which, in company with about fifty others, set 
sail for the main land. Notice was at once conveyed to 
Sandoval, who was actively engaged in tearing down the 
houses, and who immediately despatched his swiftest ves- 
sel in pursuit. It soon came up with the royal barge, 
which was distinguished by its awnings and structure, and 
its captain, Garcia de Holguin, received the surrender of 
the ill-fated Emperor of the Aztecs. Guatemotzin had with 
him the King of Tacuba, Coanoctzin, tlT,e deposed King of 
Tezcoco, and other persons of rank, together with his wife 
and children. Entreating for them the consideration of the 
Spaniards, he took his queen by the hand and entered the 
brigantine. 

From the terrace of a temple Cortez had witnessed the 
flight, the pursuit, and the capture. He awaited anxiously 
the arrival of the monarch, and as he came before him 
embraced him with the greatest show of affection. The 
unhappy emperor, laying his hand upon a dagger that 
Cortez wore at his girdle, begged him to deprive him of 
the life which he should have lost in defence of his people, 
and which was no longer of value to him ; '' I have done, 
Malmtzin, that which was my duty in the defence of my 
kingdom and my people ; my efforts have been of no avail^ 
and now, being brought by force to you a prisoner, draw 
that poniard from your belt and stab me to the heart." 



322 Mexico. 

This he said with tears in his eyes and baring his breast to 
receive the fatal thrust. Cortez tried to reassure him, 
promising him his Uberty in due season and a return of all 
the greatness which he had lost. Better had it been for 
the great-hearted emperor had his wish been carried into 
effect at that time, for he was reserved for torture and a 
disgraceful death by hanging, at the hands of this same 
deceitful captor ! What he would not ask for himself he 
begged for his people, entreating Cortez that he would put 
a stop to the slaughter still going on. This he did, and 
when the bloodthirsty allies had been restrained, the 
miserable remnant of Mexico's once-numerous population 
was allowed to file out of the plague-smitten city into the 
country. 

[A. D. 152 1.] With the fall of Guatemotzin fell the 
capital, and the little resistance until then offered ceased. 
It was at the hour of vespers, on the thirteenth of August, 
152 1, that this was effected, and the Spaniards found 
themselves in possession of the prize for which they had 
so long and so desperately striven. That night, the 
soldiers fell back to their old posts, on the outskirts of 
the city, which they had occupied during the seventy-five 
days of the siege. Many thousands of the allies had been 
killed, and of their own number above one hundred had 
been killed and sacrificed. An immense number of the 
Mexicans perished, according to the best authorities, not 
less than one hundred thousand^ and of the survivors there 
were few that were not afflicted with wounds and disease, 
the result of pestilence and famine. " I have read," says 
the soldier-historian, Diaz, " of the destruction of Jerusalem, 
but I cannot conceive that the mortality there exceeded 
this of Mexico ; for all the people from the distant 
provinces which belonged to this empire had concentrated 
themselves here, where they mostly died. The streets, 



The City Deserted. 323 

the squares, the houses and the courts of Tlaltelolco were 
covered with dead bodies ; we could not step without 
treading on them ; the lake and canals were filled with 
them, and the stench was intolerable. For this reason, 
our troops, immediately after the capture of the royal 
family, retired to their quarters." 

In order to cleanse the city the inhabitants were ordered 
into the country, the decaying corpses were buried, and 
great fires were kindled to purify the air. "For three days 
and nights the causeways were full, from one end to the 
other, of men, women, and children so weak and sickly, 
squalid and dirty and pestilential, that it was misery to 
behold them. Some miserable wretches were creeping 
about in a famished condition through the deserted streets ; 
the ground was all broken up to get at the roots of such 
vegetation as it afforded, the very trees were stripped of 
their bark, and there was no water in the town. . . . During 
all their distress, however, though their constant practice 
was to feast on such as they took prisoners, no instance 
occurred of their having preyed upon each other ; yet 
certainly there never existed since the creation a people 
which suffered so much from hunger, thirst, and warfare." 

" Thus," says another historian, " did Providence, in 
conducting the Spaniards, a polished nation of Europe, 
to overturn the rude monarchy of the Mexicans, in America, 
punish the latter for the injustice, cruelty, and superstition 
of their ancestors. But there the victors, in one year of 
merciless massacre, sacrificed more human victims to 
avarice and ambition than the Indians during the existence 
of their empire had devoted in worship to their native gods. 
There the legislative art of Europe corrected the bloody 
policy of American tribes, and introduced the ministry of 
justice, by despoiling Indian caciques of their territories 
and tributes, torturing them for gold and enslaving their 



324 Mexico. 

posterity. There the mild parental voice of the Christian 
religion was suborned to terrify confounded savages with 
the malice of a strange, and by them unprovoked, God ; 
and her gentle arm in violence lifted up, to raze their 
temples and hospitable habitations, to ruin every fond relic 
and revered monument of their ancestry and origin, and 
divorce them in anguish from the bosom of their country." 

The plunder obtained did not come up to the expectations 
of the conquerors, and as the best part of the gold and 
treasure was sent to the King of SjDain, the poor soldiers 
came out of this long and trying siege with nothing but 
wounds and sickness as their reward. The allies were 
dismissed well laden with plunder of garments and feathers, 
and with magnificent promises from Cortez of what he 
would later do for them. What he did do was to compel 
them to rebuild the city and labor for his enrichment ! 

At the quarters in Coyoacan a great feast was held, at 
which the soldiers " swore they would buy horses with 
golden harness, and the cross-bow men would use none 
but golden arrows." This was while they were under the 
influence of wine ; but when they returned to their senses 
they discovered that their condition was but little better 
than that of their allies. When the revel was ended " the 
crucifixes and the image of Our Lady were borne in solemn 
procession, with drums and standards ; the litany was sung 
during the ceremony ; Fra. Bartholome preached and ad- 
ministered the sacrament, and we returned thanks to God 
for our victory." In this manner was the divine blessing 
invoked upon the destruction of a nation and the murder 
of millions. 



After the Overthrow. 325 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

AFTER THE OVERTHROW. 

[A. D. 1521-1530.] Gold and treasure were found in 
such small quantities that Guatemotzin, the late emperor, 
was suspected of having concealed it. The disappointed 
soldiers and officers had forgotten that they had exhausted 
the treasure of Montezuma during their first occupation of 
the city. From the plundering of the dead Mexicans and 
the sacking of empty houses they turned in disgust upon 
Cortez, demanding that he should compel the emperor to 
reveal the place where he had buried his treasure. Cortez, 
conqueror of a million Mexicans, intrepid leader of a band 
of adventurers, who had been the life and soul of this' bloody 
enterprise, had not the courage to withstand the importu- 
nities of these assassins. They insinuated that he was 
treating Guatemotzin with kindness in order to obtain from 
him the valuable secret and appropriate the booty, and to 
clear himself of such suspicions he delivered the unfortu- 
nate monarch over to be tortured. It availed the Indian 
emperor little that Cortez had promised him protection ; 
for he was to be served worse than had been his cousin, 
Montezuma. His feet were soaked in oil and burned over 
a slow fire ; but this cruel act only extorted from him the 
confession that he had thrown the little remaining of his 
treasure into the lake. He bore the torture with great 
courage, even mildly rebuking a companion who shared it 
with him for weakly crying out. His life was spared for 
the time, but his friend died of the torment. 



326 



Mexico. 



Expert swimmers and divers searched the places pointed 
out by Guatemotzin, but recovered nothing of value, except 
a sun of gold in a deep pond in his garden. The whole 
sum collected amounted to only three hundred and eighty 
thousand crowns, and, after deducting the shares belonging 
to the king and the officers, that falling to the soldiers was 




BUST OF GUATEMOTZIN. 



so small that few of them would take it. The most curious 
of the works of gold, some pearls, and a magnificent eme- 
rald, pyramid-shaped, the largest they had ever seen, — 
in fact, the greatest portion of the treasure, — was sent to the 
Emperor of Spain, Charles V. The ship containing it, and 
also messengers bearing letters from Cortez to the emperor, 



I 



The Aztec Empire Subjugated. 327 

was captured by a French cruiser and the valuable booty 
transferred to France. It was a cause of great sorrow and 
chagrin to the Spaniards to learn that this royal gift, 
which they had toiled so hard to obtain, which had cost so 
many lives, and for which they had even sacrificed their 
souls, had been diverted into the coffers of a strange king. 
The King of France and his subjects rejoiced greatly, and 
the former is said to have then had his eyes opened to the 
extent of the possessions of his brothers, the Kings of Spain 
and Portugal, in the New World. He sent over to them 
asking how it was that they had agreed to divide the world 
between them without giving him a share, and asked to see 
the will of our father Adam, by which he had made them 
exclusively his heirs. 

The downfall of the Aztec capital was also that of the 
empire ; the Spaniards were now masters of the entire 
territory, except certain remote portions, which they soon 
subdued. Indians from all parts of the country flocked 
to the vale of Anahuac to look upon the ruins of a city 
that had seemed to them impregnable. The great kingdom 
of Michoacan was the first to send embassadors to the 
conquerors. After sending several messengers, the king 
himself came to behold with his own eyes that which his 
ears refused to credit. He brought a large quantity of gold 
and pearls, and declared himself a tributary of the King of 
Spain. Spanish soldiers were sent back into his country, 
and through it to the coast of the Pacific, at Colima. 

In two months the city had been cleansed and was ready 
for occupation. To the Indians, Cortez assigned one dis- 
trict, and to the Spaniards he gave another. That portion 
form.erly occupied by the temples and royal palaces had 
been levelled to the ground ; the remainder of the city was 
nearly in ruins. Buildings were repaired, and the work of 
construction immediately commenced ; and (as predicted 



328 Mexico. 

by the Aztecs) the very Indians who had assisted in the 
demohtion were compelled by the Spaniards to devote 
themselves to the labor of building up the new city. Sub- 
stantial and beautiful structures were rapidly reared, and 
in a few years this ancient centre of trade and capital 
became again mistress of Mexico. In the Indian quarter 
of Tlaltelolco thirty thousand Indians found shelter, and 
two thousand families occupied the district assigned to the 
Spaniards. 

Expeditions for conquest and colonization were sent east, 
south, and west. The gallant Sandoval was sent to Goatz- 
coalcos to punish some people who had murdered a party 
of soldiers, and to settle a colony. Finding that the vicinity 
of Mexico, though it had a most delightful climate, did not 
abound either in mines or rich plantations, many of the 
soldiers preferred to seek new territory. From the books 
which contained the accounts of the tribute paid in former 
years to Montezuma they ascertained the provinces richest 
in gold, cotton, and cacao, and begged of Cortez to send 
them there. 

The natives of Panuco, northeast of Anahuac, rose in 
rebellion, and were only put down" after a series of hard- 
fought battles, and the troops were called in other direc- 
tions, rarely being allowed to remain inactive for any length 
of time. 

[A. D. 1522.] In this year Captain Alvarado was sent 
to conquer the country of the Zapotecs, in the province of 
Oaxaca (pronounced Wah-hah-kah). This he succeeded 
in doing, completely subjugating the people of this rich 
and fertile valley, and procuring a great deal of gold. The 
natives even made for him stirrups of gold, after patterns 
he furnished them. 

On the 15th of October of this year the emperor signed 
the commission of Cortez as Captain-General, Governor,'" 



The King Confirms Cortez in Power. 329 

and Chief Justice of New Spain. He was now established 
in the position he had sought to obtain. In spite of the 
opposition of Velasquez, Governor of Cuba, and Fonseca, 
Bishop of Burgos, who had sought to have him declared a 
traitor, arrested, and sent to Spain, the emperor now recog- 
nized the great value of his services, and justly rewarded 
them. From the time of the development of the enmity of 
Velasquez against him to this, he had remained loyal to 
his sovereign. In disconnecting himself from the Governor 
of Cuba, and making himself responsible directly to the 
emperor, he had ever in view the possibility of his motives 
being mistaken. He had, hence, used every endeavor to 
prove his fealty, to impress the emperor with the fact that 
all his conquests were in his name. For this reason he 
had despoiled the soldiers of their share of the captured 
treasure at Vera Cruz, at Mexico, before and after the cap- 
ture, and sent a vast amount to the court. Charles V. 
could not be insensible to the fidelity and great value of 
the services of this remarkable man, who had added to his 
empire a domain larger than the whole of Castile. Cortez 
was also as expert with the pen as with the sword, as the 
letters written at various times during the conquest remain 
to testify. Immediately upon retiring from the ruined 
city to the suburb of Coyoacan, he sat down to write a 
most graphic and temperate account of the whole pro- 
ceedings. 

He had evaded the various officials sent out by the 
Governor of Cuba with authority of the king to arrest him 
or to suspend his operations, sending some away with 
bribes and others by force, and now he was in the position 
he had so long coveted, with all his acts sanctioned by the 
king, and accountable to him alone. 

The first government was really a military one, with 
Cortez as chief, but there existed the Aytmtamiento, or 



330 Mexico. 

body of magistrates, first appointed by Cortez himself in 
Vera Cruz at the outset of his career of conquest. This 
body had authority over the distribution of land to colo- 
nists, the building of new cities, location of market-places, 
and the promulgation of laws for the health, order, and 
security of the new settlers. In a word, they were a very 
respectable body, and many of their ordinances and regu- 
lations have been observed in Mexico from 1522 to the 
present day."^ Later, the Audiencia^ composed of lawyers, 
generally five, under the name of oidores, dispensed justice 
and the laws. Then there were visiting and resident jus- 
tices, and swarms of lawyers soon came over from the 
mother country to lend their assistance, notwithstanding 
the prayers of Cortez to the emperor that he would keep 
these pestiferous meddlers away from the colony. 

The Aztecs, once subjugated, occasioned no more trouble ; 
they were virtually slaves, as well as all the Indians of the 
country, except the Tlascallans, who were made exempt on 
account of their unequalled services in bringing the country 
under the dominion of Spain. By the iniquitous system 
of repartimie7itos — apportionments — that had for some 
years prevailed in the West Indies, and under which the 
Indians of Hayti became exterminated, the natives of Mex- 
ico were doomed to perpetual slavery ! They were con- 
demned to work in the mines, to cultivate the soil, to do the 
most degrading labor, in a country they had once owned 
and in which the Spaniards were usurpers. The misery of 
conquest only commenced with the surrender of the people, 
for more died under the lash of the task-master than by the 
sword. The Indians of the West Indies soon perished under 
the horrible cruelties practised upon them, but the Mexicans, 

* " La mayor parte delas reglas y ordenanzas que dictaron los Ayuntamientos 
de Mexico desde 1522 en adelante, estan todavia en observancia." — Compendia 
de la Historia de Mexico. Payno. 



Expedition of Francisco de Garay. 331 

besides being by nature more hardy, later had the benefit 
of tardy laws, and their descendants exist to-day."^ 

The soldiers of one Francisco de Garay, who had at- 
tempted a settlement at the mouth of the river Panuco, 
were now roaming the country in bands, robbing and mal- 
treating the Indians. These at last could endure it no 
longer and rose upon them, killing several hundred in all. 
When Cortez heard of these outrages, he despatched San- 
doval with a hundred Spaniards and eight thousand Tlascal- 
lan and Mexican troops to punish and subdue them. This 
he did, after a desperate battle, and acting on the orders 
of Cortez, who sent an alcalde with legal instructions, he put 
to death many of the caciques, burning some and hanging 
others. In a short time quiet was restored, and the strag- 
gling bands of soldiers belonging to Garay, (who had mean- 
while died in Mexico) were gathered together and sent 
back to the island of Cuba. 

[Dec, 1523.] The most important of the expeditions 
sent out after the pacification of the empire was one, under 
Pedro de Alvarado, for the conquest of Guatemala. This 
was successfully accomplished after a great deal of hard 
fighting, and this vast province added to the Spanish pos- 
sessions. 

Another force was put under the command of Christoval 
de Oli, a brave captain, and sent by sea to Honduras. Cor- 
tez ever had in mind the discovery of a strait through the 
continent which might lead to the Spice Islands. Colum- 
bus had the same desire and follovv^ed this delusion south- 
ward, away from Mexico and Yucatan, the coast of which 
he saw but did not visit. De Oli arrived at his destination 
in May, and subjugated the country, but eventually threw 

* We have not here space to notice the untu-ing efforts of the good Las 
Casas, Bishop of Chiapas, in behalf of the Indians of America. The reader 
interested in the history of the Spanish colonies should consult his Life. 



332 



Mexico. 



off all dependence upon Cortez and conducted himself in 
such a manner as to bring down upon his head the latter's 
vengeance. Fighting was constantly going on in various 
parts of the country, especially in the south and south-west 
in the provinces of Tabasco, Oaxaca and Chiapas-; but 
always resulting in Spanish victories and the bringing of 
the natives under subjection. 




RUINS OP MITLA, NEAR OAXACA. 

Although Cortez was industrious in establishing his well- 
earned reputation as conqueror of New Spain at the royal 
court, and in securing land-grants and titles for himself and 
his relations, he yet persistently ignored the claims of his 
old comrades in arms. He employed them to the last in 
battles and fatiguing marches, but did not reward as he 



Presents for the Ki?tg of Spain, 333 

ought those valiant soldiers who had contributed to his ele- 
vation. 

The tribute of gold was carefully hoarded and his maj- 
esty's fifth religiously set apart, for upon royal favor alone 
depended the stay of Cortez in power, even in the country 
which he had conquered by the force of his own arms. 
Among other royal presents especially worthy of note was a 
golden culverin, or small cannon, a superb piece of work- 
manship, engraved with a flattering verse in praise of Charles 
V. This was valued at twenty thousand ducats, but after 
it had ceased to be a novelty the emperor gave it to one of 
his officers. In compliance with the petitions of Cortez 
and his companions, priests and monks were sent as soon 
as possible to the new country, to conquer by the cross such 
as the sword had left. The first body of twelve Franciscans, 
though they came out as "poor brothers," barefooted and 
with ragged habits, were received with great state. Cortez 
gave directions for the road from Vera Cruz to the capital to 
be put in order, houses to be built at certain distances for 
them to refresh in, and for the inhabitants of every town to 
meet them in procession, with the ringing of bells and with 
candles and crucifixes. As they approached Mexico he went 
out to meet them, and kneeling at the feet of the leader, rev- 
erently kissed his hand. This example of humility had its 
due effect upon the natives, who henceforth regarded these 
barefooted beggars as gods, and flocked to their preaching 
in such multitudes that thousands were converted to the most 
holy faith in a single month. 

[A. D. 1524.] Upon learning that De Oli had cast off 
his allegiance to him as Captain-General, Cortez sent 
another expedition to Honduras to kill him and take charge 
of the colony. The vessels were wrecked and part of the 
force destroyed, but eventually the leader. Las Casas, mur- 
dered De Oli through treachery, and brought his people 



334 



Mexico. 



over to acknowledge Cortez. Ignorant of this turn of 
affairs, and suspecting that his fleet had come to grief, Cor- 
tez, as time passed on and no news arrived of the colony, 
determined to set out himself upon a march to Honduras. 
It was characteristic of the man, not to be satisfied so long 




A CHURCH IN MEXICO. 



as a portion of his territory — even though a small and dis- 
tant one — remained unsubjected to his will. 

While he was preparing for this long journey — for it was 
to be by land, and through untraversed forests — there 
arrived in Mexico some officers of the king, sent out to 
inquire into his conduct of affairs, and to assume charge of 
the government if such a measure should be necessary. In 



The Expedition to Hondttras. 335, 

their hands, though very unwiUingly, Cortez left the charge 
of affairs, and set out on his long and dangerous march. 
Though the city and valley were well garrisoned, he took 
with him Guatemotzin, the late emperor, and the Prince of 
Tacuba, as hostages, to prevent a rebellion of the natives. 
Having in view the settlement of the new country to be 
traversed, he took along a large drove of swine, which fol- 
lowed his army, feeding by the way. Many officers of his 
household, a service of gold and silver plate, musicians, 
priests, jugglers, and many other superfluous persons and 
articles, he took with him, which before the march was 
ended he wished himself rid of. His force consisted of 
three hundred infantry and cavalry, three thousand Indians, 
and several pieces. of artillery. They arrived at the prov- 
ince of Goatzcoalcos, and here pressed into their service the 
old comrades of Cortez, who, now living quietly on their 
farms, had thought their days of fighting over. This was 
the province of which the talented Indian woman, Marina, 
who had served the Spaniards so long as interpreter, was a 
native. There Cortez got rid of his mistress — this woman 
who had contributed more towards the conquest than any 
thousand of his soldiers, — by marrying her to one of his 
soldiers, and assigning her lands in the province of her 
birth. Beyond this province they soon became entangled 
in the vast labyrinth of rivers and marshes of the present 
state of Tabasco, and daily lost numbers of their men by 
hunger and fatigue. 

[A. D. 1 5 2 5 .] It was while his army was in this condition, 
wandering through the forests of a vague and unknown 
country, threatened with death by starvation, that C5rtez 
performed that revolting act — the crowning one of a long 
series of cruelties — the hanging of Guatemotzin. Know- 
ing that this magnanimous chieftain had it now in his 
power to destroy him and his weakened forces, and to return 



336 Mexico. 

to Mexico and head an insurrection, Cortez hung him 
and the Prince of Tacuba to a tree. 

As he was being led to the place of his death, surrounded 
by the minions of Cortez, the priests, he turned upon him 
and sorrowfully said : " Malintzin, now I find in what your 
false words and promises have ended — in my death ! 
Better had I fallen by my own hands than trust myself in 
your power in my city of Mexico. Why do you thus unjustly 
take my life ? May God demand of you this innocent 
blood ! " To this appeal all lovers of justice and haters of 
iniquity will say, amen ! 

In this manner, disgracefully hung upon a ceiba tree in 
the depths of the Tabascan forest, perished Guatemotzin, 
heroic defender of Mexico, noble and dauntless American, 
last of the Aztec monarchs. That seared and scorched rem- 
nant of a conscience that this monster, Cortez, still pos- 
sessed, was much disturbed for a few days after this event, 
and while wandering about restlessly at night he fell from 
a native temple and injured himself severely. Troubles 
and dangers thickened upon him at ever}^ step ; the forests 
became well nigh impenetrable ; they were obliged to build 
long bridges to cross broad marshes and deep rivers ; their 
provisions were long since exhausted, and for his share of 
the scant supplies obtained from the natives Cortez was 
obliged to quarrel with his soldiers. Their only guide 
through this wilderness was a map painted by the Indians 
of Goatzcoalcos, used by their merchants in their journeys 
through that country. The natives furnished them as 
guides being ignorant of the trail, this was their dependence, 
together with a compass Cortez had with him and to which 
the superstitious Indians ascribed supernatural powers. In 
the end, after enduring privations more terrible than had 
before befallen them on any expedition in Mexico, a rem- 
nant of the force arrived at the settlement in Honduras. 



Return of the Honduras Expedition. .337 

With the same vigor as of old, Cortez applied himself to 
gaining that territory, and even planned a journey to 
Nicaragua. 

Meanwhile, in Mexico, things were in a very disturbed 
state, the men left in power quarrelling among themselves 
and maltreating both the natives and their conquerors. 
It was given out that Cortez and his army had perished, 
and their property was divided amongst others, and large 
sums paid to the priests for masses for the repose of their 
souls. Letters finally reached Cortez of the condition of 
affairs, and he was so distressed that he nearly lost his 
reason. Fate seemed now to have turned against him, as 
he tried several times to embark and was driven back by 
contrary winds and currents. At last he succeeded in 
coasting the shores of Yucatan and landing at Mexico, 
where he was received with rejoicings by the people. The 
natives swept the road before him, strewing flowers on his 
way, and he entered the capital, from which he had been 
twenty months absent, in triumph. 

A long while after, the wretched veterans of his army 
returned by way of Guatemala, having been, some of them, 
over two years absent from their homes. The sound of 
rejoicings had scarcely died away when news came that a 
royal officer, Luis Ponce de Leon, had arrived from Spain, 
to take the government from his hands and institute inves- 
tigations as to his conduct. This gentlemen survived but a 
little while his entry into Mexico, and the one he had 
appointed his successor also dying soon, it was rumored 
that Cortez had poisoned them. It was then brought to 
mind that the wife of Cortez, whom he exceedingly dis- 
liked, had also died soon after joining her husband, after 
the conquest, and that the unfortunate Garay had expired 
while a guest in his house. There was great reason for 
these reports to contain truth, as all were persons whose 



338 Mexico. 

removal Cortez desired, and whose deaths were attended by 
suspicious circumstances. 

[A. D. 1527.] In order to vmaicate .ns actions m the 
past, and to clear his character from these and other asper- 
sions, Cortez resolved to set sail for Spain and present 
himself before the king. Although much of his property 
had been lost to him during his departure on the Honduras 
expedition, and though he could not obtain from the priests 
the large sum that had been paid them to say masses, and 
which had been transferred to another he yet had posses- 
sions to a vast amount. 

At the same time that judges were appointed to proceea 
to Mexico and inquire into the charges against Cortez, the 
first Bishop of Mexico, John de Zumarraga, a Franciscan, 
was nominated with a commission to be " protector of the 
Indians." With him went forty Dominican friars, and 
forty Franciscans followed later, with money from the king 
for the building of a monastery. 

Cortez fitted up a ship and sailed for Spain, in a manner 
befitting the conqueror of New Spain, taking with him a 
son of Montezuma, one of the chiefs of Tlascala, and several 
other Indians, as interesting specimens of the peojole to 
exhibit to the emperor. Four of these were those jugglers 
so expert in swinging and in balancing heavy timbers on 
their feet. He landed at Palos in December, 1527, at 
which place, shortly after, died his friend, the gallant and 
noble Sandoval, most trusty captain of the veterans of 
Mexico. 

The presence of Cortez at court allayed all the suspicions 
of the king, who loaded him with honors. He created him 
Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, assigning lands and estates 
of great extent to enable him to maintain his elevated rank, 
and confirmed him in his title of Captain-General of New 
Spain and the South Sea. He declined, however, to return 



Cortez in Spain. 339 

him to Mexico as Governor of New Spain, fearing to place 
in absolute power one so popular among the people. The 
most Cortez could obtain was permission to fit out two ships 
on voyages of discovery, with the royal consent to one- 
twelfth the land he should find and the right to rule over 
the new colonies. 

His wealth and elevated position assisted him to form an 
alliance with a niece of the Duke of Be jar, his firm friend 
in times of adversity. The jewels he gave his young and 
beautiful bride were the richest ever seen in Spain ; they 
were the spoils of Indian princes whom the gallant Cortez 
had murdered to obtain. But these gems shone resplendent 
on the person of the fair Donna Juana de Zuniga, and so 
excited the envy of the queen, Isabella, that from being a 
friend of Cortez she became his enemy. 

He had now entirely forgotten his old comrades, but he 
sent a rich present to his holiness the Pope, and some of 
the Indians to dance before him. His holiness was pleased 
to grant bulls of indulgence to him and his soldiers from 
the penalties of their sins ; and henceforth were their con- 
sciences easy ; no longer need they fear the ghosts of the 
millions of murdered Indians they had sent to the land of 
shades. They were now recognized as apostles of the 
most holy faith, who had done blessed work in converting 
the pagan Mexicans from their worship of idols to that of 
the true God. 



340 Mexico. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE REIGN OF THE VICEROYS. 
(1535-1820.) 

The first Audiencia was created in 1528, with the cruel 
and sanguinary Nuno de Guzman as president, Avho, among 
other oppressive acts, tortured by fire the once-powerful 
King of Michoacan. It governed the country badly, mak- 
ing its tyranny felt in every part ; putting to death or 
expelling from the country all who opposed it. The con- 
dition of the Indians was terrible ; the system of oppres- 
sion put in force at this time has left its traces visible even 
to the present day. 

In 1524 Padre Valencia founded convents in Tezcoco, 
Tlascala, Huexotzinco and Mexico, and the Padre Gante 
the parochial church of Santa Maria. In 1529 the same 
Padre Gante established the College of San Juan de Letran. 

In 1530, in April, was commenced the city of Puebla, 
eighty thousand Tlascallans laboring so industriously that 
it soon contained above 3,000 houses. To-day it is a city of 
70,000 inhabitants. 

[A. D. 1532.] Cortez, on his return from Spain in 1530, 
had established himself with his lovely wife in the vale of 
Cuernavaca, where he built a palatial residence and devoted 
himself to the cultivation of sugar-cane. To him is due 
the first impulse towards the development of this industry, 
which has now assumed such vast proportions. 

He soon tired of this employment, however, and in 1532 
availed himself of the powers vested in him by the king for 



Death of Cortez. 



341 



discovery and conquest, and fitted out two ships to explore 
the Pacific. This expedition proving a failure, he fitted out 
two more vessels, which accomplished nothing more than 
the discovery of Lower California. Still undaunted, he 
launched three more ships, at Tehuantepec, in 1537, and 
attempted a colony in Lower California ; but nearly all the 
colonists perished, and he at last gave up his attempts at 
fresh discoveries after having expended over 300,000 




82. 



AZTEC HUT. 



crowns. In 1540, a disappointed and sorrowful man, he 
returned to Spain to seek restitution for his losses ;. but, 
after years of vain endeavor, he at last died, in the state of 
misery he merited, in the year 1547, 

We will not stop to inquire if his conscience was ever 
oppressed by feelings of remorse for the unparalleled ca- 
lamities he had entailed upon the innocent Mexicans, but 
will turn from him with the same sense of relief we would 
feel at the death of a venomous serpent that had drawn its 
loathsome trail over this fair earth. 



342 Mexico. 

In 1530 the misgovemment in Mexico called for a 
ciiange ; a new Audiencia was appointed, followed by the 
establishment of a viceroyalty. The viceroy, the person 
who was to be invested with all the authority of the king 
himself, and who was to govern the new vice-kingdom, was to 
be one whose high position placed him beyond susioicion, and 
whose fidelity to the crown was unquestionable. Such a man 
was found in Don Antonio de Mendoza, one of the royal 
chamberlains. 

He arrived in Mexico in 1535, where he was received as 
one who represented in his person the king, who was to 
carry out the policy of Charles, believed to be favorably 
disposed towards his Indian subjects. For several years 
his reign was uneventful, except that the vice-kingdom 
steadily progressed, the mines continued to be worked, and 
the Indians still labored for the benefit of Spanish task- 
masters. 

[A. D. 1536.] Most celebrated in the annals of the vice- 
royalty should be this year, 1536, for in it was published 
th.e Jirst book printed in Mexico, the first ever printed in the 
New World ! It was issued from the press of Juan Pablos, 
and entitled La Escala de San Juan Climaca. 

In the same year the first money was coined in Mexico, 
for the viceroy had orders from the king when he left Spain 
to establish a mint. Two hundred thousand dollars in cop- 
per were coined, but it proved so offensive to the Indians 
that they could only with difficulty be made to receive it, 
and in 1541 cast the entire coinage into the lake. These 
descendants of the nobility of Mexico had been accustomed 
to ■ handling of gold and silver, and scorned to soil their 
hands by contact with baser metal. 

In 1537 Guzman, the assassin of the King of Michoacan, 
was cast into prison; in 1540 Cortez sailed for Spain 
accompanied by his son ; and in 15 41 died Pedro de Alva- 



Discovery of the Pueblos. 343 

rado, formerly captain in Cortez's army, and later Governor 
of Guatemala. 

[A. D. 1542.] The Indians of Jalisco rising in rebellion 
the viceroy marched upon and subdued them, treating them 
with great humanity. In this movement he was accompa- 
nied by an army of fifty thousand friendly Indians, and 
four hundred and fifty Spanish soldiers. 

DISCOVERY OF THE PUEBLOS. 

At this time came reports from a country far to the north, 
brought by a wandering monk, of a native kingdom called 
Qtcivara, containing the seven cities of Cibola. 

If we could but follow the threads of history we should 
see how closely interwoven with the conquest of Mexico 
are the leading events in the discovery of other American 
possessions. Pamphilo de Narvaez, who had fought Cor- 
tez on Mexican soil in 1520, some years later, in 1528, 
landed a large force in Florida. Owing to the failure of 
his fleet to meet him at a certain point his army was 
reduced to starvation. Embarking in frail boats nearly all 
the survivors were drowned. A few were cast ashore on 
what is now known as Texas, and three of them finally 
succeeded in reaching their brother Spaniards in Mexico 
after ten years' wanderings. They brought them this news 
of the existence, far to the northward of Spanish 
dominion, of seven wonderful cities, inhabited by people 
far superior to the average Indian. With imaginations all 
aflame from these stories, the Spaniards were eager to at 
once undertake the capture of those wonderful cities in the 
far north. 

In the year 1540 the viceroy sent an army of three hun- 
dred soldiers, under command of Vasquez de Coronado, 
for the subjugation of the seven cities, with everything 
necessary for colonization as well as conquest. They 



344 Mexico. 

found " The Seven Cities of Cibola," as report had named 
them ; but found no silver, as in Mexico ; no gold, as in 
Peru. 

Sadly disappointed, Captain Coronado abandoned the 
country at the end of two years, and returned southward to 
his home. 

The people living here offered but little resistance and 
were consequently humanely treated. They were found to 
be a peace-loving and agricultural race, living in great 
houses of adohe^ hundreds of families in a single residence. 
Their descendants occupy the same dwellings to-day and 
retain the names given them at that time by the Spaniards. 
They were called Puehlos — from the Spanish pueblo, or 
vijllage — and the Pueblos to-day constitute the most civ- 
ilized and intelligent of ouijndians. They have many tradi- 
tions that connect them with the Aztecs or the Toltecs, but 
they have no system of written characters or hieroglyphs. 
Their legends have been passed down by word of mouth 
alone, and are hence valueless as affording even material 
for history. Great pains have been taken to obtain their 
secret traditions as preserved by the old men of the nation 
of the Zimis, and extravagant efforts have been used to 
draw public attention to them of late ; but without any 
beneficial result to the student of history. 

Towards the close of the sixteenth century another Span- 
ish captain reconquered that region, and the people were 
eventually enslaved and compelled to labor in the mines. 
Nearly a hundred years later, in 1680, they rebelled and 
after much brave fighting drove the Spaniards from the 
country. Thirteen years afterward they were again enslaved, 
and remained victims of Spanish oppression for one hun- 
dred and thirty years, until Mexico gained her independ- 
ence, in 1821. 

These Indians had a tradition that a new race of men 



The Conquest of New Mexico. 347 

would come from the East to deliver them from the bond- 
age of the Spaniards and Mexicans, and this was happily- 
verified in 1846, when their territory, New Mexico, fell into 
the hands of United States soldiers. 

Returning to the capital of Mexico, we shall find that 
everything continued to prosper ; lands were distributed to 
poor and meritorious Spaniards, and mines long known to 
the ancient Mexicans were opened and successfully worked. 
In the years 15 41 and 1542 were founded the cities of 
Guadalajara and Valladolid. 

[A. D. 1545.] In this year occurred an eruption of the 
volcano of Orizaba ; in the following year the rich mines of 
Zacatecas were discovered, and a terrible pestilence broke 
out among the Indians, in which eighty thousand of them 
perished. 

In 1548 the first Bishop of Mexico, Zumarraga, died, the 
same man who caused such a great loss to the world by the 
destruction of Indian paintings. Desiring to remove from 
the sight of the Indians every vestige of their former 
arts, and especially of their idolatry, this infamous bigot 
ransacked the library vaults of Tezcoco and Mexico, and 
piling the hieroglyphic paintings in a great heap destroyed 
the whole by fire. No one can estimate the loss such a 
destruction of historic paintings has occasioned. Learned 
men have not ceased to regret it to the present day ; and 
if any man ever deserved the curses of the Mexican nation, 
it is this same first Bishop of Mexico, Don Juan de Zu- 
marraga. 

[A. D. 1550.] Of the large number of viceroys sent 
out by the Kings of Spain to govern their new king- 
dom across the sea none was better fitted for the position 
than the first one, Mendoza. His many estimable qualities 
won upon people of all classes, and he paved the way for 
the future government of his successors by uniting the 



348 Mexico. 

many apparently incongruous and inharmonious elements 
of society. 

Recognizing his peculiar fitness for the task of organizing 
the disordered elements of a new colony, the king promoted 
this able man to the viceroyalty of Peru, the subjugation 
of which country had been accomplished by Pizarro. He 
left Mexico in the year 1550, and his successor arrived the 
same year. 

Before following any farther the chronology of events in 
the capital it would be well for us to turn back a leaf or 
two in our history, and recall a province which we have 
well-nigh forgotten, and which, during these years just 
recorded, had come into prominence again — the province 
of Yucatan. 



Discovery and Conqtcest of Yucatan. 349 



CHAPTER XXV. 

DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF YUCATAN. 

In Chap. I., pp. 23 and 24, we made allusion to a 
great empire which once existed in Central America, and 
the fact of whose existence gave support to the theory that 
our American Indians were autochthonic — native to the 
soil. In an epoch which it is impossible to fix, but which 
undoubtedly was long before the beginning of the Christian 
era, there flourished here a powerful theocratic empire, 
called by its enemies Xibalba, of which it is thought 
Palenque was the capital, now in ruins, the most magnificent 
of any on this continent. 

This was destroyed (it is thought) by Nahuatl tribes from 
beyond the River Panuco. The dispersed inhabitants 
sought refuge in Yucatan, Guatemala, Darien, and even 
spread to Peru. The conquerors founded a city near 
Ocosingo (state of Chiapas), which they called Tulhd, 
or Tula. Following a sacred historical book of the Quiches, 
called the Ah Tza, it is conjectured that the most ancient 
inhabitants of Yucatan, the Itzaes — Ah Tzaes — are the 
direct descendants of the inhabitants of Xibalba.* 

Strange as it may seem, that the natives of Yucatan at 
the period of its conquest all spoke one tongue — the 
Maya — Yucatan shows traces of having been inhabited by 
three distinct peoples. These were the Itzaes^ the Mayas, 
and the Caribs. The first invaders of which there is any 
tradition are the Itzaes, who established themselves in the 

* Following the celebrated scholar, Ancona, Historia de Ytccatan, Merida, 
1876. 



350 Mexico. 

eastern and northern portions of the peninsula, and founded 
the cities of Chicken, Itzamal, and T'Bo (Merida). 

[A. D. 580 (?).] The Mayas followed soon after, and in 
the sixth century came the Tutul Xius, who settled in the 
country to the south-west, about Ux7?ial^ and gradually 
spread north and east. 

At the conquest, the Mayas allied themselves with the 
conquerors, but the Itzaes, preferring ostracism to servi- 
tude, retired to Peten, buried deep in the great forests on 
the confines of Guatemala. Towards the end of the tenth 
century the Tutul Xius had acquired great strength, and 
commenced to persecute the Itzaes to the last extremity, 
causing this afflicted people to return to the first city they 
had established in Yucatan — Chacnovitan — in which they 
had laid the foundation of their religion. 

[A. D. 1 180, or 1200.] The growing power of the Tutul 
Xius so alarmed the Prince of the Mayas, residing in 
Mayapan, that he treated with the military chiefs of Tabasco 
and Xicalango for troops. About this time, consequently, 
there entered into Yucatan a strong body of Mexican, or 
Toltec, soldiers, which were used as a garrison for Mayapan. 
Dissensions and jealousy followed this introduction of 
foreign troops. A century later the chief of the Tutul 
Xius marched upon MayajDan, and after a bloody conflict 
with its defenders destroyed it. 

[A. D. 1450.] It was in this epoch that the Itzaes 
abandoned their city of Chichen and secluded themselves 
in the great wilderness. Their traditions relate that their 
prophets predicted the coming of the Spaniards, and, tired of 
war and bloodshed, they retired to a point where they could 
be at peace. The country was then divided into numerous 
independent states. According to some writers the people 
were afflicted with famine, floods, and pestilence ; but it is 
doubtful if any event of importance occurred between the 



Ruins of Central America.. 351 

middle of the fifteenth century and the landing of Cordova 
m Yucatan territory, in 15 17. 

THE RUINS OF YUCATAN. . 

In a geographical sense, Yucatan does not belong to 
Mexico, but as it is a political province of the republic it 
must be included in a history of that country. In its 
physical features it is radically different from Mexico 
proper, being a vast plain of coral rock with but few 
elevations. Its ruins indicate that it was once inhabited 
by highly civilized aborigines. There is nothing like them 
in other parts of America, and only a few others that 
approach them in magnitude, in grandeur, in beauty of 
original design, construction, and embellishment. 

We have not space to describe in detail these magnificent 
structures, only to mention a few, conspicuous from their 
great beauty and from the vastness of their remains. 

Lying on the borders of Yucatan are the ruins of 
Palenque, supposed to have been the capital city of that 
great aboriginal empire of Xibalba. It was only discovered 
by the Spaniards in 1750, although Cortez and his army 
passed near it in the unfortunate march to Honduras. The 
principal structure here, called the " Palace," is twenty-five 
feet high, two hundred and twenty-eight feet long, and one 
hundred and eighty deep. Its walls are stone, laid with 
mortar and sand, covered with stucco nearly as hard as 
the stone itself and painted. Ranges of stone steps thirty 
feet broad lead up to it, flanked by gigantic statues, nine 
feet high, carved in stone, with rich necklaces and head- 
dresses. The characteristic feature of these ruins is the 
stucco ornamentation, the fagades of the buildings being 
covered with it, and the corner-pieces with hieroglyphics. 

We cannot pass these ruins by without especially 
mentioning one piece of sculptured stone that has excited 



352 Mexico. 

a general interest the world over. This is the famous 
"Tablet of the Cross," so faithfully reproduced in the 
accompanying engraving. Many have argued from this 
that the Indians of America were acquainted with this 
symbol, and hence once had listened to the preaching of 
Christianity by one of the apostles. All agree that it indi- 
cates great antiquity for these ruins. 

No one has yet been able to decipher the hieroglyphics 
that surround this symbol, nor has any one yet interpreted 
satisfactorily the meaning of the central picture. Figures 
of the cross have been found in other places in Central 
America, Europe, and Asia with such surroundings as give 
a greater antiquity than is usually ascribed to it. 

Copan, in Honduras, though situated beyond the province 
we are examining, is worthy of description. Carved idols 
and sculptured altars are there profusely scattered through- 
out the forests. 

To return to Yucatan. We find the largest "city" in 
Chichen, about thirty miles west of the present city of 
Valladolid, occupying an area about two miles in circum- 
ference. A conspicuous ruin there is called the " House 
of the Nuns," very rich in sculpture. The grandest 
building is called the " Castle," though the names these 
structures bear now are those bestowed by a later gener- 
ation than the people who built ihem. The ornaments 
carved in the white limestone and the hieroglyphs are 
rich and wonderful ; all attempts to decipher the latter 
have proved fruitless. Among the mural paintings that 
adorn these walls are many that are beautiful, even from 
an artistic standpoint. Some represent warriors in battle, 
casting javelins and spears, while others portray events in 
the lives of the successive rulers of Chichen. Around the 
cornice of one building is a procession of tigers, or lynxes. 
In another building, to which one explorer gave the name 




PALENQUE CROSS. 



Ruins of Chicken arid Uxmal. 355 

of "the gymnasium," are great stone rings set in the wall. 
Similar ones have been found in Mexico, and it is supposed 
that they were used in games of ball. They are four feet 
in diameter, and thirteen inches thick, with a sculptured 
border of entwined serpents. 

Among these ruins, which are the remains of the once 
rich and flourishing capital of the Itzaes — Chichen-Itza, 
the Itza city — men have labored for years striving to dis- 
cover the secrets they contain. The celebrated explorer, 
Dr. Le Plongeon, here discovered a beautiful monolith, the 
largest statue ever unearthed in this country. It was called 
by him Chaac-mol, and now reposes in the museum at the 
capital of Mexico, an object of curiosity and speculation to 
the student of American archseology. The same intrepid 
explorer and his devoted wife have made tracings of the 
mural paintings and photographs of all the hieroglyphs, 
occupations which have cost them years of labor. 

The ruins of Uxmal (pronounced Oosh-mdl), situated 
about fifty miles south of the present capital of Yucatan, 
Merida, are not less famous and interesting than those of 
Chichen-Itza. There are many magnificent piles scattered 
over a large area. The most conspicuous building is that 
called the " House of the Governor," standing on the 
uppermost of three ranges of terraces, the first of which is 
five hundred and seventy-five feet long. The front wall is 
towards the east, and is three hundred and twenty-two feet 
in length ; the fa9ade is smooth and without ornament to 
the tops of the doorways, but the cornice above is one 
mass of rich and elaborately sculptured ornaments. It 
forms a perfect sculptured mosaic, with the added interest 
that each stone contains a history ; for these sculptures are 
hieroglyphs, and preserve an allegory or part of a 
historical record. Eleven doorways open into a double 
series of rooms, the principal ones being sixty feet long, 



356 Mexico. 

and with arched ceiUngs twenty-three feet high. This, in 
brief, is a hasty description of the great " Governor's 
House " — Casa del Gobernador — of Uxmal. Tire engrav- 
ings will convey more faithful pictures than pages of text, 
and to them the reader is referred. 

But this is only one of the ruined structures that abound 
in Uxmal. On one of the terraces supporting this ruin is a 
smaller one, known as the " House of the Turtles " — 
Casa de las Tortugas — from a beaded cornice containing a 
row of stone tortoises of large size. 

Chief of the structures is the " Palace of the Nuns," an 
immense quadrangular building, its high and elaborately 
chiselled walls surrounding a great court two hundred and 
fourteen feet wide by two hundred and fifty-eight feet long. 
The interior fa9ades are mazes of wonderful sculpture, and 
on onQ wall is a representation of the deity, Qitetzalcoatl, 
the symbolical " feathered serpent," stretching its plumed 
body across the entire length of the court. 

Other buildings lie in ruins, and heaps of stone alone 
tell where many others formerly stood. The " House of 
the Pigeons " is one, the " House of the Old Woman," and 
the " Nameless Mound," all lie within sight of the central 
structures. There is one pyramid here, crowned by a long 
narrow building called the " House of the Dwarf," which is 
reached by one hundred steps, each one foot high. The 
entire mound is eighty-five feet high, two hundred and 
thirty-five feet long by one hundred and fifty-five wide, 
and the crowning structure is seventy-two feet by twelve. 

All around Uxmal are ruins, the surface being literally 
covered with them, showing that this region was at one 
time densely inhabited. This section was that in which 
dwelt the Tutul Xius, last immigrants to Yucatan before 
the Spanish invasion. South and southeast of this are 
many more vestiges of cities, once inhabited, but now 



Ruins and Antiquities. 359 

silent ana desolate. Such are Labna, Kahbah, Nohpat^ 
and many others. Some are celebrated for the simplicity 
of their architecture and grandeur of proportions, while 
others excite the wonder of the few travellers who have 
seen them by the profuseness and beauty of their orna- 
ments. Not the least interesting of these is that ancient 
capital of the Maya empire, Mayapan. Of all the groups 
of ruins it is the nearest to the present capital, Merida. 
The mound at Mayapan is sixty feet high and one hundred 
square at its base. Upon its summit is a stone platform 
fifteen feet square, and sculptured stones are scattered all 
about. 

To go into the details of these remarkable structures, 
scattered so profusely throughout the wilds of Yucatan, 
would, with our present space, be impossible. The curious 
and studious reader should consult such works as Stephen's 
valuable volumes : " Incidents of Travel in Yucatan." This 
indefatigable traveller and pleasant writer discovered, a 
little over forty years 2igo, forty ruined cities. His pages 
are replete with valuable descriptions and interesting 
sketches of travel in that most fascinating land of ruined 
cities. Since Stephen's time many valuable additions have 
been ma^e to the list, and much has been brought to light 
that was not then even dreamed of. The learned Brasseur 
de Bourbourg spent many years studying the hieroglyphs 
and Maya manuscripts. Monsieur Charnay procured many 
photographs, and the United States Consul, Mr. Louis H. 
Ayme, is at present (1882) industriously engaged in a 
thorough examination of monuments of aboriginal skill 
wholly unknown to our early archaeologists. 

The attention of the country is being directed towards 
that long-neglected peninsula, and its future seems to con- 
tain almost as many possibilities as its past. We may, 
perhaps, count upon more, for it yet remains for us to dis- 



360 



Mexico. 



cover the key to those hieroglyphs^ that adorn the silent 
walls of those dead cities, and which may contain, locked 
up within their mystic characters, the secret of the race 




TOWER, PALENQUE. 

that carved them. He who shall discover this will be 
certain to have his name engraven high upon the walls of 
the temple of fame. 



Details of the Conquest. 361 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

DETAILS OF THE CONQUEST. 

[A. D. 1526.] Among the adventurers who sailed with 
both Grijalva and Cortez was a gallant young man named 
Montejo — Don Francisco Montejo, a cavalier of Seville. 
Twice, by his last commander, Cortez, he was entrusted 
with a commission to Spain to the king. He was one of 
those who sailed in that first vessel that ever made the 
voyage from New to Old Spain, when that royal present 
was carried from Montezuma to Charles V. On his -second 
arrival as commissioner he was rewarded for his dis- 
tinguished services by a coat-of-arms, and many grants and 
privileges. 

In the year 1526, in December, he obtained a royal 
grant for the pacification and conquest of Cozumel and 
Yucatan. In the fevered haste with which the different 
expeditions to New Spain had swept on towards the ill- 
fated capital .of Montezuma's empire, Yucatan had been 
entirely overlooked. We know that it was the first 
province discovered of New Spain ; that its coast was made 
known in 1502 to Columbus; in 1506 it was seenby Pinzon ; 
that Cordova landed there in 15 17, followed by Grijalva in 
15 18, and by Cortez in 15 19. But, as it was gold the 
Spaniards were after, and as every indication of the 
precious metal pointed to the table-lands of Mexico, Yuca- 
tan remained neglected. There was no gold there, and, 
moreover, the inhabitants of its coasts had always given the 
visiting Spaniards such warm receptions that they were 



362 Mexico. 

always glad to leave them alone after a single trial of their 
prowess. Anxious as they were for the bringing of these 
Indians under the influence of their religion, the acquisition 
of wealth was a matter of vastly greater concern. So the 
tide of conquest flowed over all Mexico, and extended even 
to Guatemala and the Pacific, before it more than lapped 
the shores of Yucatan, 

[A. D. 1527.] But its time was soon to come. In the 
year 1527 Montejo's fleet of four vessels, containing four 
hundred men, with liberal supplies, landed at Cozumel, the 
same island that Cortez had rendezvoused at eight years 
before. Here, for the first time, the Spaniards had seen, 
as they coasted, " villages in which they could distinguish 
houses of stone that appeared white and lofty at a distance. 
There were so many and such stately stone buildings that 
they were amazing ; and the greatest wonder is that having 
no use of any metal these people were able to raise such, 
structures; which seem to have been temples." The 
Spaniards took possession of the country in the name of 
their king, the bearer of the royal standard planting it in 
the ground, crying in a loud voice, " Espaha ! Espana I 
Viva Espana I ''^ 

Their troubles commenced almost at their landing, for 
the people of this section of the country were as hostile to 
strangers, and as courageous, as any the Spaniards had 
met on the western coast. Men fell sick from the heat, 
the country was rough and rocky, and overgrown with 
dense woods ; thoug^h the little armv offered no violence to 
any one, evidences accumulated on every side that the 
natives of Yucatan were gathering for a general resistance 
to the invasion. 

After enduring great fatigue the army arrived at the town 
of Ake. On the present map of Yucatan, Ake exists no 
longer as a centre of population, but at this place are some 




HOUSE OF THE NUNS, CHICHEN. 



The Terrible Fight at Ake. 365 

of the most wonderful ruins in the peninsula. Here are 
great ranges of pillars, consisting of large stones piled one 
upon the other. They are known to the Indians as 
Katunes, or calendar stones, perpetuating epochs of their 
history. By them their wise men kept the record of the 
passing years, and by means of them we can trace the 
existence of this people back in the past many thousands 
of years. 

In sight, perhaps, of these mute memorials of ages past, 
the Spaniards and Indians fought a terrible battle. The 
savages had lain in ambush, and pounced upon them with- 
out warning, with shouts and yells, and such a sounding of 
sea-shells, trumpets, and turtle-shells that the hills seemed 
to shake. The astonished Spaniards fought bravely ; they 
seem to have been superior men, in point of morals, to 
other armies that had invaded New Spain, and more 
deserving of sympathy than any that had preceded them. 

Great slaughter ensued, but at nightfall, when the fight- 
ing ceased, the Indians yet remained on the ground. At 
daybreak next morning the battle was renewed and con- 
tinued fiercely till midday, when the Indians gave way. 
The Spaniards were so weary with watching and fighting 
that they could not pursue the slowly retreating enemy, 
and sank exhausted on the field. Many were killed and 
wounded, and twelve hundred of the Indians had lost their 
lives. 

In 1528 another great battle was fought near Chichen 
Itza, the very ancient capital of the unfortunate Itzaes. 
This is said to have been one of the bloodiest engagements 
that ever took place in these Indian wars. A great many 
Indians were killed, but one hundred and fifty Spaniards 
also lost their lives and nearly every survivor was wounded. 

[A. D. 1528.] The only province in which they could 
learn that gold existed was that of Bakalar, to which 



^66 Mexico. 

Montejo dispatched one of his captains, Davila, with a 
demand for tribute. The fierce cacique sent back the 
haughty message that he would send them fowls on spears 
and Indian corn on arrow-points. They were only too glad 
to get back to the main body, this detachment under Cap- 
tain Davila, which they only accomplished at the end of 
two years. By this time the remains of the army had 
reached CamjDeche, on the western coast, and here they 
remained for several years making ineffectual attempts to 
penetrate the country. The Indians of Tabasco, who had 
been conquered by Cortez, now revolted, and as this prov- 
ince belonged to the Adelantado, Montejo, he felt con- 
strained to go over to compel them into obedience. While 
he was gone the garrison at Campeche became so reduced 
that but five soldiers remained fit for duty. 

[A.,D. 1535.] It was therefore resolved to abandon the 
post, and in the year 1535, after some years of fruitless 
fighting the last Spaniard departed from the shores of 
Yucatan. The last person to leave was Gonzales Nieto, the 
one who had first planted the royal banner on the eastern 
coast, eight years previous. 

By this time the Adelantado, Don Francisco Montejo, 
was impoverished. The fame of Pizarro's conquests in 
Peru drew away his best soldiers, and no one could be 
found to aid him in the subjugation of a people so fierce 
as the Yucatecans, the capture of whom would yield no 
booty other than cotton garments and rude implements of 
warfare. 

[A. D. 1537.] Don Francisco, having completed the 
pacification of the Tabascans, again turned his attention to 
Yucatan. In 1537 he landed a small force at Campeche, 
or Champotan, and, leaving them in command of his son, 
returned to Tabasco for supplies and reinforcements. The 
Spaniards were attacked almost as soon as they had landed. 




BAS-RELIEF OF TIGERS, CHICKEN. 



The March upon Tihoo. 369 

and some captured soldiers were carried into the interior 
and sacrificed to the Indian idols. 

Disunited as they were, the various Indian caciques 
resolved to unite once more and attempt the expulsion of 
the hated invaders. It was at Champotan, immense num- 
bers gathered together and fell upon the Spaniards. The 
latter were driven to their boats ; but, stung to shame by 
the taunts and insults of their foes, they returned to land, 
wounded and bleeding, and finally drove the Indians from 
their camp. The latter might yet have crushed them out 
had they but made concerted action against them, but 
unfortunately they retired and dispersed to their various 
villages. 

[A. D. 1540.] The Adelantado, having placed his son 
(also named Francisco) in possession of all the rights 
and privileges granted him by the king, retired to the gov- 
ernment of Chiapas, and the younger man carried out the 
plans for pacification. 

In 1540 the city of Campeche was founded ; it exists 
to-day, a port of some importance. It was resolved to 
strike direct for the Indian capital, and w^hen, after great 
exertions, a small force had been finally collected, the 
march was commenced. This Indian capital was known 
as Tihoo, situated in the interior. The Indians did much 
to obstruct their march ; concealed the wells and ponds 
and withheld and destroyed provisions. In addition to the 
perils of fighting they had hunger and thirst to contend 
with. Their sufferings were almost unendurable ; but they 
finally arrived in the vicinity of the great town of Tihoo. 
A terrible storm was gathering, soon to break upon them. 

[A. D. 1541.] In the month of June, 1541, the storm 
burst. More than forty thousand Indians — according to 
the old chroniclers — precipitated themselves upon the 
Spanish camp. The battle that followed was the most san- 



370 Mexico, 

guinary and most desperately fought of any that had taken 
place. It lasted the greater part of the day, the Indians 
returning to the attack again and again ; but at evening the 
Spaniards remained masters of the field, though so 
obstructed by the heaps of bodies of the slain that they 
could not pursue the retreating foe. 

This great battle ended all combined resistance to Span- 
ish arms. Cacique after cacique came in and submitted, 
until a great part of the territory came under Spanish rule. 

[A. D. 1542.] On the sixth of January, 1542, Don Fran- 
cisco Montejo, son of the Adelantado and conqueror of 
Yucatan, founded on the site of this Indian town of Tihoo 
the city of Merida. To-day you may view this beautiful 
city, with its noble buildings, its quaint architecture. After 
sixteen weary years of desultory fighting, after repeated 
rebuffs, after enduring losses that might well have discour- 
aged a less noble spirit, Don Francisco Montejo found 
himself in possession of this coveted country. 

Forty years had passed since Columbus heard of this 
country, and eleven since Cortez had humbled the proud 
capital of the Aztecs. Two new empires, Mexico and 
Peru, had been added to the Spanish crown during these 
years of fighting, both as rich in the gold the Spaniards so 
coveted as this was poor in the elements of wealth. It 
was a barren conquest, this of Don Francisco Montejo, not 
at all worthy the great expenditure in men and treasure it 
had cost him. 

Dating from the period of its conquest, Yucatan existed 
as a Captain-Generalcy, a distinct government from that of 
Mexico or Guatemala. When we come to speak of Mexico 
as a whole and united republic we shall take another 
glance at Yucatan ; for the present, we will leave it to 
follow the action of more stirring events in the territory 
wrested from the Aztecs. 



TJie Reig7i of the Viceroys. 371 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE REIGN OF THE VICEROYS. — Continued. 

[A. D. 155 1.] Don Louis de Velasco, the second vice- 
roy, was a worthy successor of Mendoza, and one possessed, 
apparently, of more firmness than he, for he had the cour- 
age to carry out the laws for the liberation of the Indians. 
He released from slavery more than one hundred and fifty 
thousand Indians, who toiled for the benefit of their 
oppressors in the mines, in the fields, and in the mountains. 
By his humane conduct Velasco brought upon him the 
enmity of the planters and mine-owners, who were becom- 
ing rich from the labor of their Indian slaves, and who pro- 
cured from the king a partial revocation of the laws in 
favor of the friendless race. 

In 1553 w^as founded the royal university at the city of 
Mexico by an order of the emperor, Charles V., dated 
September, 1551. In the same year occurred a great 
inundation, the first since the occupation of Mexico by the 
Spaniards, and a great dike was constructed, in imitation 
of that ancient work of the Aztec kings. 

In 1555 the Chichimecs, or wild Indians of the north, re- 
belled and committed great depredations, and Don Fran- 
cisco Ibarra was dispatched to conquer and explore the 
territory to the north and west ; this he did successfully, 
discovered many rich mines of gold and silver, and the city 
of Durango was founded in 1563. 

In the year 1557 the news reached Mexico of the abdi- 
cation of Charles V., and the accession to the throne of 



372 Mexico. 

Spain of that monster of iniquity, Philip, his son. This 
had taken place with imposing ceremonies in Brussels in 
the month of October, 1555. The transfer of power was 
soon observed in the spies, that the suspicious Philip soon 
sent out to watch the movements of the viceroy and to 
oppress the Indians, whom, we have reason to believe, his 
royal father honestly wished to relieve. A new Audiencia 
was established, without consulting which the viceroy could 
perform no important business ; and a visitador, or royal 
spy, was sent out, who perpetrated such cruelties against 
the Indians that he has ever since been mentioned as 
"^/ Moles tador de los Indios^^ — the molester of the 
Indians. 

[A. D. 1564.] The good viceroy, who had striven to 
perform his duty by all his subjects, died in 1564, while 
engaged in fitting out an expedition for the Philippine 
Islands, which sailed the same year, and founded the 
celebrated eastern city of Manilla. Another viceroy took 
the reins of government two. years later, and during the 
interval the Audiencia was the ruling power. 

This viceroy was distinguished for nothing that has made 
his name memorable, and it will be an idle task for the 
reader to burden his memory with even his name. This is 
also true of the majority of that long list of viceroys, over 
sixty in number, that ruled New Spain for a period of 
three hundred years. With a few rare exceptions they 
were merely creatures of the king, sent out to do his 
bidding, and removed as soon as they ventured to perform 
an independent act. Few of them were remarkable enough 
to live in the pages of history, and, with the reader's per- 
mission, we will not burden the narrative with half a 
hundred superfluous names.* Now and then we shall find 
some name shining forth, either elevated into prominence 

* For a complete list of kings and viceroys see Appendix. 



Philip II. of Spain. 373 

through some act of its owner, or the circumstances of the 
times in which he lived and ruled. These shall not be 
neglected. 

In the year 1562 the " Marquis of the Valley," son and 
heir of Cortez, returned to Mexico, taking up his residence 
in the city. His palace was the resort of the Mexican 
aristocracy — or of those who wished to be considered as 
such — who had inherited fortunes or titles from their 
fathers, the original adventurers. The prestige of his 
name was such, and he so evidently was a favorite with the 
people, that the Audiencia feared — or pretended to fear — 
that he might wish to usurp the power bestowed upon them 
by his majesty, the King of Spain. A plot was reported to 
have been formed, which had for its object the murder of 
the Spaniards in power and the elevation of the family of 
Cortez. It would have been an easy matter for one bear- 
ing that potent name to excite a popular uprising among 
the Indians, who would have fought as bravely in his cause 
— as against the cause of Spain — as did their fathers 
against the advances of the conqueror. 

[A. D. 1566.] It was to have taken place on the 13th of 
August, on the anniversary of the fall of the city ; Don 
Martin Cortez, son of the conqueror and the Indian girl, 
Marina, was to place himself at the head of armed bands 
and proclaim his half-brother, the Marques, King of 
Mexico. This was in the year 1566. The Marques was 
imprisoned, and two friends, who had given utterance 
to treasonable expressions, were publicly beheaded and 
their heads stuck upon spears. 

The arrival of the new viceroy caused a stay of these 
proceedings, and the Marquis of the Valley escaped to 
Spain, where he felt himself more secure than in the 
country which his father had given to the Spanish crown. 



374 Mexico. 

THE INQUISITION IN MEXICO. 

[A. D. 1568.] The Visitador Mufioz, who had been sent 
to inquire into charges respecting the late viceroy, seized 
Don Martin Cortez, and put him to the torture. Although 
the innocence of this wretched man was fully established a 
few years later, he suffered much bodily pain and great 
losses of property during its seven years' sequestration. 
The satisfaction with which some of the conquered race 
must have viewed this putting to the torture of a son of Cor- 
tez and Marina, the two instruments of their enslavement, 
must have been extreme. 

What a pity that the monster genius of Spanish invasion 
could not have been brought within the compass of a single 
body, and suffocated by the clasp of iron-handed justice 
upon its throat ! 

[A. D. 1571.] It was in the year 157 1 that the infernal 
monsters engaged in burning heretics in Spain sent into 
Mexico the terrible Inquisition. The world immediately 
within control of that loathsome instrument of Satan, Philip 
II. of Spain, was becoming purged of its dissenters, and, 
with his diabolic instinct for making misery more miserable, 
he reached out his bloody hands towards his western pos- 
sessions. Thirteen years previously Charles V., the father 
of Philip, had charged him upon his dying bed to show no 
mercy to heretics. Says a learned writer upon events of 
Spanish histor}^ : "The devout, prayerful (shall we say 
conscientious) bigot, with dying breath, urged his son Philip 
to extirpate heresy from his realms by all the energies of 
the Inquisition, without favor or mercy to any one. * So,' 
says he, ' you shall have my blessing, and the Lord shall 
prosper all your undertakings.' Philip fulfilled these 
injunctions with cruelty which one would think must have 
flooded with tears the eyes of angels." 



The Dominicans Enter Mexico. 



375 



In the year following, in 1559, this incarnate demon pub- 
licly celebrated an auto da fe, or " act of faith," in which, 
in the city of Valladolid, many hmnan beings were burned 
alive, simply because they differed from the Church of Rome 




PORTRAIT OF PHILIP OF SPAIN. 



upon some trifling matter of religious belief. Centuries 
before, in 1231, this " Mother of Harlots," had sanctioned 
the burning of the holders of heretical doctrines, and had 
delivered the execution of its will to the Dominicans. 



376 Mexico. 

This pestiferous sect had already established itself in 
Mexico, and under the shadow of its church of Santo Do- 
mingo the brethren of this iniquitous Inquisition settled 
themselves, like vampires, on the watch for prey. 

Another sect devoted to the interests of the Pope of 
Rome, though not so stained with blood and imbued with 
ignorance as the Dominican, gained a foothold in Mexico 
in the year following, in 1572. 

[A. D. 1573.] The corner-stone of the great cathedral 
of Mexico was laid in this year. In 1525, upon the site of 
the famous Aztec teocalli^ a temple had been erected. This 
was now demolished to make way for a more stately edifice, 
and the grand cathedral slowly grew to assume the propor- 
tions it preserves to the present day. It was nearly a 
century in progress of construction, as it was not finished 
until the year 1667 ; and the total cost of this sumptuous 
temple, including the works added by succeeding genera- 
tions, has exceeded two millions of dollars. 

A complete description of it would be out of place in a 
work like this, but we may mention, in passing, that it is 
one of the most magnificent churches in the New World. 
Its length is 425 feet, its breadth 200, and the height of its 
towers 200. These towers contained forty-six bells, which 
rang out their deafening clamor upon the very spot where 
stood the altars of the Aztec war-god, upon the summit- 
platform of the temple-pyramid. 

Its interior was adorned with every work of art available 
to its builders at that period. Its Virgin and the glory of 
its cupola are the work of celebrated artists. Its high 
altar was formerly the richest in the world, and even to-day, 
after having been successively plundered, is most magnifi- 
cent, ablaze with gold and jewels. It contained chalices, 
candlesticks, crucifixes, of solid gold, encrusted with pre- 
cious stones. Some of these golden candlesticks required 




I^iUiiyiliUfik^ ..^ t^i 



The Great Cathedral. 379 

two men to lift them. The statue of the Assumption (now 
missing) was of solid gold, and cost $1,089,000! There 
was a lamp of gold that cost eighty thousand dollars. 
Around the choir is a balustrade, of a metal so precious (a 
mixture of silver, gold, and bronze) that an offer to replace 
it with one of equal weight in silver^ was refused. This 
weighed twenty-six tons, and was brought from China dur- 
ing those ancient days of Spanish dominion. All these 
riches (the half of which have not been described) were 
acquired when bishop, priest, and monk were rulers of New 
Spain, and owned two-thirds the entire wealth of the 
nation ! 

Towards the end of this history we shall see how these 
parasites were made to relax their hold upon the people's 
earnings, and compelled by popular indignation to disgorge 
their ill-gotten gains. 

Three years previously the cathedral of Guadalajara was 
commenced, which was not completed until 1818, having 
consumed nearly two hundred and fifty years in building. 
During this same year of 1571, in which was established 
the Inquisition in Mexico, occurred an eruption of the 
great volcano of Popocatapetl, an event infrequent enough 
to excite general terror and apprehension. 

[A. D. 1576.] A frightful pestilence visited Mexico, 
and during the year it is estimated that more than two mil- 
lion Indians died of its ravages. In 1580 the capital was 
again inundated, owing to abundant rains, and great local 
distress followed. At this time, however. New Spain was 
apparently enjoying a period of prosperity. Owing to the 
enforced labor of the Indians in her mines she was produc- 
ing immense quantities of silver. Lying directly between 
the oriental colony in the Philippines and Spain, the mother 
country, her sea-ports — Acapulco on the Pacific, and Vera 
Cruz on the Gulf coast, had become rich and thriving 



380 Mexico. 

cities. People from the extremes of the world met in her 
capital and transacted business ; but while the golden 
stream of wealth and trade flowed from the west to the 
east no portion of it fell to the share of the poor Indian. 
Bowed down with misery and grief, he was compelled to 
toil early and late for the aggrandizement of an empire far 
distant over the sea. 

[A. D. 1583.] Through frequent changes and the loose 
administration of the oidores of the Audiencia the govern- 
ment officials became very corrupt. To correct this state 
of affairs Philip II. appointed the Archbishop of Mexico, 
Pedro Moya de Contreras, visitador, with powder to 
thoroughly search into their conduct, and to bring them to 
justice. This man was also inquisito7% and through the 
combined influence of his spiritual and temporal authority 
he purified the local government, so far as loyalty to the 
king was concerned. Soon appointed to the viceroyal 
chair, he diverted a large current of gold and silver 
towards the mother country. 

[A. D. 1585.] His successor, Alvarado Enrique de 
Zuniga, arrived in October, 1585, and carried out the wise 
principles of government established by the inquisitor. In 
1587 he likewise sent a rich treasure fleet to Spain, which 
reached its port in safety. Such was not the fate of all 
the treasure galleons that succeeded these pioneer vessels, 
as the attention of other powers was becoming directed 
towards that source of Spain's wealth and power. The 
seas on both coasts of Mexico soon became infested with 
pirates, called by courtesy "privateers," and "buccaneers." 
The French and English were very annoying, especially the 
latter, headed by the famous Captain Drake. After captur- 
ing and sacking Spanish cities on both the Atlantic and 
Pacific coasts he turned his attention to the rich galleons 
which made annual voyages between the Philippines and 



Plundering the Galleons. 381 

Mexico. Concealing himself among the coves of the 
Lower California coast he lay in wait for the richly freighted 
vessel, plundered it of its valuable cargo, and made his 
escape, though vigorous search was instituted by order of 
the viceroy. As only one sliip came in a year this loss was 
severely felt bv the colonists, as the merchants had them 
almost at their mercy 

[A. D. 1590.] Internal troubles added to the vexations 
of the viceroy, who was recalled to Spain, and his place 
filled by another, Count Luis Velasco, son of the second 
viceroy under Charles V. This sagacious ruler labored 
earnestly for the amelioration of the condition of the 
Indians, and, contrary to the' wishes of the foreign traders, 
encouraged native manufactures of cotton and woollen 
stuffs. In 1 59 1 the Chichimecs, who had always mani- 
fested a hostile disposition* towards the Spaniards, were 
brought to adopt the ways of civilized life by the settle- 
ment among them of several hundred of the ever-faithful 
Tlascallans. In this manner was commenced that import- 
ant town so noted in the annals of mining history, San 
Luis Potosi. The Spaniards were not so fortunate in their 
attempts to compel the wandering Otomies to abandon a 
savage life, as the first savage experimented upon not only 
destroyed his habitation but murdered his family and then 
hung himself. 

[A. -D. 1593.] It was under this viceroy that there was 
laid out and planted the beautiful forest garden of Mexico, 
the Alameda^ in existence to-day, one of the most delight- 
ful spots in that land of perpetual summer. Its walks and 
avenues intersect a shady grove of poplars and eucalyptus 
trees, beneath which are beds of flowers sprinkled by the 
spray of cooling fountains. 

[A. D. 1594.] The oppressed Indians were still further 
burdened by the mercenary Philip with a tax of one dollar 



382 Mexico. 

each, the imposition of which the viceroy strove in vain to 
avert, and ^Yhich was tlie cause of much suffering. In 
1595 this viceroy was promoted to Peru, his seat being 
taken by Don Caspar de Zuniga, Count of Monterey, who 
exhibited his firmness and' humanity by reheving the 
Indians of that odious tax. In 1596 an expedition was 
fitted out for the exploration of tlie California coast, and 
colonists started for New Mexico, the land of the Pueblos, 
from which they later returned dissatisfied with the country. 

The year 1597 is celebrated in Mexican annals as that 
in which perished '* Saint Philip of Jesus," a native of 
Mexico, who was crucified in Japan, whither he had gone 
on missionary work. 

[A. D. 1598.] Philip II. of Spain, the ferocious perse- 
cutor of his race and kindred, did the world an unwilling 
service by dying, and his loathsome, worm-infested body 
was consigned to earth. The news of this important event 
did not reach Mexico till 1599, in which year the city of 
Monterey was founded. 

[A. D. 1600.] In the year following, 1600, the city of 
Vera Cruz was transferred from its ancient site, where it 
had been located by Cortez, to the one it at present 
occupies, in the vain hope that the last would prove more 
salubrious. 

[A. D. 1602.] The coast of California, which in our 
time became El Dorado — the land of gold • — was 
thorougly explored, in 1602, by General Viscaino, by order 
of Philip III., the new King of Spain and the Indies. 
Setting sail from the port of Acapulco with four vessels he 
reached the port of Monterey — named in honor of the 
viceroy — and eventually coasted as far as Cape Mendo- 
cino, in latitude 40® north. Cabrillo, a Portuguese in the 
service of Spain, discovered California in the year 1542, 
and the buccaneer, Drake, took possession of it for Queen 




SPANISH MISSION, MONTEREY. 



Draining the Valley of Mexico. 385 

Elizabeth in 1578, naming it New Albion; but nearly 
two hundred years passed before any attempt to plant 
a colony here resulted in success. 

The opening years of the seventeenth century saw the 
Spaniards in possession of a vast amount of territory 
north, south, east, and west of Mexico, chiefly acquired 
through expeditions planned and started from the central 
city. During these first years, it is alleged, the Indians 
voluntarily returned to the old system of repartimientos, by 
which they were assigned to the miners and planters as 
laborers, in reality slaves. It is claimed that their natural 
indolence moved them to this ; but such is contrary to 
what is recorded by those interested in their welfare. 

[A. D. 1607.] The early years of this century were also 
made memorable by another inundation; and in 1607, as 
it was found that the dikes erected at various times were 
insufficient to protect the city, a stupendous undertaking 
was set in progress, no less than the drainage of the entire 
valley ! It was under the patronage of Don Louis Belasco, 
who had been again returned from Peru to the viceroyalty 
of Mexico, and under the direction of a celebrated engineer, 
Enrique Martinez. 

The valley of Mexico is an immense basin, situated about 
7,000 feet above the level of the sea. It contains five lakes, 
rising in stages one above the other, the uppermost, Lake 
Zumpango, being over thirty feet higher than Lake Tezcoco ; 
which is only five or six f<^,et lower than^the level of the 
great square of Mexico. As a consequence, when any 
great rains flood the upper lake its waters rush with great 
fury towards the lower one, which sets back towards the 
city in spite of the dikes built to protect it. The plan of 
the engineer, Martinez, was to dig a subterraneous canal 
through the valley brim, by which Lake Zumpango would 
be thoroughly drained, This tunnel was commenced on 



386 Mexico. 

the 28th of November, 1607. Fifteen thousand Indians 
worked incessantly for eleven months, at the end of which 
time the tunnel was completed. It was six thousand six 
hundred meters in length, over three meters in height and 
four in breadth, and was continued at its northern end by 
an open cut eight thousand six hundred meters in length, 
that conducted the water of the lake into the river Tula, 
which finally makes its way into the Gulf of Mexico. 

This tunnel having become stojDped up, either by accident 
or design, the city was at once flooded in a single night, and 
for five years, from 1629 to 1634, the people traversed the 
flooded streets in canoes. 

In 1637 the Franciscan monks secured control of the 
work, which they held for over a hundred years, and diverted 
through this channel a vast amount of gold into their 
treasury ; though the water flowed no more freely than 
before. In 1767 it was decided to convert this subterra- 
nean canal into an open cut, as it frequently became choked, 
and endano^ered the citv. Thousands of Indians lost their 
lives in both undertakings ; but life was cheap in those days, 
and labors were performed that to-day it would be impos- 
sible to execute. 

At a cost of a million dollars, the cut was concluded, in 
the year 1789. It was then 67,537 feet in length, and in 
some places, at the top, over 600 feet in breadth, with a 
perpendicular depth of from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred feet ! 

This was the great tajo, or cut, of Nochistongo, which 
had cost, at the beginning of the present century only, over 
$6,000,000 and a vast number of lives. It performed its 
w^ork ineffectually, and the government of Mexico is yet con- 
sidering, — at this day, two hundred and seventy-five years 
after the tunnel was dug, — how it should properly drain the 
great valley in ths centre of wliich is the magnificent cap- 



The Cut of Nochestongo. 389 

ital of Mexico. Enrique Martinez, the great Mexican 
engineer, is finally honored by a statue in the plaza of the 
city, and through the cut commenced by him so many years 
ago runs the track of a railroad, seeking exit from the 
valley. 

From 161 1 to 162 1 two other viceroys occupied the cap- 
ital, and the year 16 12 was distinguished by a serious insur- 
rection of the Indians, which was only subdued after seve- 
ral months' hard fighting. 

[A. D. 1620.] The aqueduct of San Cosme, a magnifi- 
cent monument to the viceroy, the Marques of Guadalcazar, 
was finished in 1620. Its nine hundred arches still stride 
across the fertile fields between Chapultepec and the capi- 
tal, and over it still flow the sweet waters from the hills of 
El Desierto. 



390 Mexico. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 

THE REIGN OF THE VICEROYS. - — Concluded. 

[A. D. 1621-1810.] Viceroy and Audiencia continued 
to rule the people of Mexico in the interests of the Kings 
of Spain. The ahnost imbecile Philip III. having been 
succeeded by the equally incapable Philip IV., affairs in 
Mexico did not prosper much. 

Between the viceroys and the arch-prelates there was a 
continual struggle for the ascendency. In 1624 occurred a 
great riot caused by a scarcity of corn. It was charged 
upon the viceroy that an agent of his had bought up all the 
maize at low rates, and was holding it for famine prices. 
The Archbishop of Mexico, a man of upright character, took 
sides with the people as against the viceroy, and the latter 
expelled him from the city. The archbishop promptly 
excommunicated the viceroy, and ordered all the churches 
to be closed until the people should have their demands 
satisfied. The matter ended with an attack upon the palace 
by a mob, the burning of the vice royal residence and the 
departure of both bishop and viceroy from Spain. 

Philip IV. promptly dispatched an inquisitor to Mexico 
to bring the rioters to justice, and a new viceroy to fill the 
vacant seat of government. 

[A. D. 1624.] A new enemy to Spanish commerce now 
appeared in Mexican waters, the Dutch, who this year 
captured Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, and in 1628 
intercepted a large fleet of treasure-vessels on their way 
from Vera Cruz to Spain. In 1629 the city was over- 



The Great Inundation. 



391 



whelmed by the great inundation (of Mdiich we have 
already spoken), and in 1631 was seriously considered the 
project of removing the capital to Tacubaya, on the hills 
bordering the lake. The 
vast interests of property- 




owners alone 
prevented this, 
and in 1634 the 
floods subsided, 
owing to repeat- 
ed earthquakes 
which opened 
outlets for the es- 
cape of the water. 
[A. D. 1642.] 
Don Juan de Pa- 
lafox. Bishop of 
Puebla,who came 
to Mexico from 
Spain in 1640 in 
acter of visitador, occupied the 
viceroyal chair for a few months. 
His rule was short but seveie , he en- 
couraged education and religion, but at the fountain. 
signalized his advent by destroying a great number of 
idols and objects of antiquity that had been preserved 
as souvenirs of the conquest. In a word, he was a bigot, and 
as determined a foe to aboriginal culture, and strove a,s hard 



392 Mexico. 

to eradicate all vestiges of it, as the infamous Zumarraga 
of the century previous. After the arrival of the succeeding 
viceroy, he was continued in his office of visitador, and 
made a great deal of trouble, especially in Puebla, by his 
domineering spirit. 

In 1648 the Inquisition procured the punishment of an 
apostate, and later on, in 1659, celebrated an auto dafe at 
which yf/?y victims were burned alive. At this dreadful act 
the viceroy presided, and the Indians flocked in from all 
directions to witness a scene that revived recollections of 
the horrid rites of their Aztec ancestors. 

The bigoted ruler of this period was the Duke of Albu- 
querque, who narrowly escaped assassination in the year 
1660, and departed for Spain. 

The Indians of Sinaloa and Chihuahua, the Tarahuma- 
res, revolted in 1649, and continued in rebellion for over 
twenty years, successfully resisting all Spanish forces sent 
into their native valleys an'd mountains to subdue them, 
until the year 1670. 

[A. D. 1665.] Philip IV. died in 1665, and left the 
kingdom to his son, a sickly boy of four years, under the 
regency of his mother, whose amours were the talk of 
the court. It could not be expected that poor Mexico 
would receive much attention, except as she was able to 
furnish funds to the royal debauchees, yet she was not 
badly governed on the whole. 

In 1667 the dedication of the grand cathedral took 
place, after two millions of dollars had been expended 
upon it and a century of toil. 

The year 1673 is memorable in viceroyal annals as that 
in which a lineal descendant of Columbus, the great navi- 
gator, was despatched to New Spain, Don Pedro Nufio 
de Colon, Duke of Veraguas, and Knight of the Golden 
Fleece, was the twenty-sixth viceroy of Mexico. He was 



Revolt of the Tehuantepecs. 393 

old and decrepit, and hardly survived his voyage to this 
new world, which had been given to Spain by his illustrious 
ancestor. 

In 1 66 1 the Tehuantepecs revolted, but were soon paci- 
fied, chiefly through the efforts of the clergy. In the same 
year the inhabitants of the valley of Mexico were terrified 
by another eruption of the great volcano, Popocatapetl. 
About this period the pirates became very troublesome, 
making the island of Jamaica (which had recently been 
captured from the Spaniards by the English) their rendez- 
vous. 

[A. D. 1680.] The aborigines of New Mexico, some 
twenty-five thousand in number, and residing in twenty-four 
villages, rose in rebellion in November, 1680, driving the 
Spaniards to their defences in Santa Fe, their northern 
capital. From this point they were at last expelled, and 
forced to seek refuge within the present limits of Mexico ; 
and it was a long while before these usually peaceful 
people, the Pueblos, were again subjected to Spanish rule. 

[A. D. 1683.] On the 17th of May, 1683, Vera Cruz, 
the only port of importance on the eastern coast, became 
the prey of an English pirate, the celebrated Agramont, 
who sacked it completely, obtaining property to the 
amount of seven millions of dollars. 

[A. D. 1686.] A colony was despatched to that portion 
of Mexican territory now belonging to the United States, 
and known as Texas, and another expedition sent to Cali- 
fornia ; the town of Monoclova, in the State of Coahuila, was 
also founded at this time. 

In 1687 the volcano of Orizaba, now extinct, treated the 
Mexicans to an exhibition of its powers in a great eruption. 
It was during the reign of the viceroy of this period that 
there was constructed the celebrated aqueduct which con- 
ducts the water from the springs of Chapultepec to the city, 
arid which is known as the Salto del A§iia. 



394 



Mexico. 



[A. D. 1690.] The island of Hispaniola (Haiti), then in 
possession of the French, was successfully attacked by 
troops sent from Mexico, and the victors returned to Vera 
Cruz with much booty and many prisoners. In the year 
following the crops were destroyed by hail and frosts, and 




TERMINATION OF AQUEDUCT. 



great scarcity ensued. The energetic viceroy, the Count 
de Galve, sought to alleviate the wants of the poor by 
purchasing corn, but they construed this act as one of 
oppression (having in mind the doings of another viceroy 
in a previous time of famine), and attacked the palace, 
setting fire to it, and destroying it and the public buildings 



Pirates and Privateers. 395 

containing the valuable records of events since the con- 
quest. The authorities retaliated by hanging the leaders 
of the mob, and depriving the lower clas'ses of their favorite 
beverage, the pulque. It was estimated that property to 
the amount of at least three millions of dollars was de- 
stroyed in the conflagration. 

[A. D. 1694.] The year 1693 was one of plenty, but 
was followed by another of scarcity, and by a plague that 
destroyed thousands, while in 1695 an earthquake caused 
the inhabitants of the city of Mexico to shake with dread. 
Another expedition was fitted out in this last year for the 
complete expulsion of the French from Hispaniola, in 
which the English and Spanish, acting in unison, were per- 
fectly successful. Pirates and privateers multiplied so fast 
that the sailors of Spain were in danger in whatever waters 
they sailed. Especially did the foreign freebooters covet 
the treasure-laden galleons that made annual voyages in 
fleets to Spain. The French at one time, in the year 1696, 
lay in wait near Havana to intercept the fleet of that year 
when it should pass on its way from Vera Cruz to the 
mother country. They were disappointed, however, for the 
Spanish authorities, getting notice of this enemy in ambush, 
delayed the fleet from spring till autumn. The French, 
thinking their coveted prize must have escaped them, sailed 
for Europe, where they later learned, to their great 
chagrin, that the galleons had arrived safely in Cadiz, and 
the duties alone on their cargoes amounted to nearly half a 
million dollars. 

In the year 1696 another owner of an illustrious name 
was appointed viceroy of Mexico, Don Jose Sarmiento Val- 
laderes, Count of Montezimia. He was not a descendant 
of the great Indian king, but acquired his title by marriage 
with the fourth grand-daughter of the Aztec emperor, the 
third Countess of Montezuma. 



396 Mexico. 

[A. D. 1697.] In the January following the arrival of 
the Count of Montezuma a richly-freighted galleon arrived 
in the port of Acapulco from the Philippine islands laden 
with rare and curious stulfs from the Orient. Merchants 
and traders flocked here from all parts of Mexico, and even 
from Peru, to buy the Chinese merchandise. The mer- 
chants from the rich viceroyalty of Peru expended over 
$2,000,000 at the fair subsequently held, in which the rich 
cargo was sold. Earthquakes disturbed the peace of the 
people at this time, and threatened famine reduced their 
supplies of corn, but the viceroy judiciously ministered to 
the people's wants, and abundant crops soon followed. 

There were two things in Mexico that kept the people in 
a constant state of fear, these were the volcano Popocata- 
petl and the Inquisition. The earth was shaken by an 
eruption of the former, though unattended by loss of life, 
and a worthy gentleman was burned at the stake by the 
latter. 

The seventeenth century ended uneventfully and left the 
principal powers of Europe apparently at peace with each 
other, and the viceroyalty of Mexico still firmly attached 
to the mother country. 

[A. D. 1700.] By the death of Charles 11. the Spanish 
crown passed to the Bourbons of France, a prince of that 
house being proclaimed king, with the title of Philip V. 
In the ten years of war that followed, during which the 
king was engaged in expelling the Austrians and English 
from his territory, Mexico remained firm in her allegiance. 
One viceroy succeeded another, and no notable events 
occurred except the occasional attacks of privateers upon 
the treasure-fleets for some time after the opening of the 
centurv. 

The year 171 1 was long remembered by a fall of snow, 
the first ever seen at the capital, and in the same year oc- 



Mexico very Prosperous. 397 

curred an earthquake so strong that the bells in the 
churches were set ringing, and which lasted for half an 
hour. Frequent meteorological phenomena disturbed 
Mexico during the decade ending in 1720, including 
disastrous hurricanes, and Popocatapetl added an eruption 
to his already long catalogue. 

In 1 7 19 war was declared between France and Spain, 
and Pensacola, in Florida, was captured by the French. In 
1720 the church of the Profesa, still standing in Mexico, 
was dedicated. The attention of the government was 
directed to the north, to Texas, California, and New 
Mexico, where the colonies sent out by it were meeting 
with varying success. 

[A. D. 1722.] This year was signalized by the arrival 
in Mexico of a creak viceroy — one born in America — all 
the others had been natives of Spain, with little love for 
the country they were called upon to govern. The 
Marquis of Casa Fuerte labored diligently to purify the 
corrupt court of Mexico and to promote the welfare of his 
subjects. It was during his reign that Philip IV. abdi- 
cated in favor of his son, Ferdinand, and later resumed the 
throne vacated by his death. He dispatched colonies to 
the northward, and among other places founded San 
Antonio, Texas, to-day belonging to the United States. 
Commerce increased, and the galleons to and from New 
Spain were more richly laden than ever, one of these coming 
from China, in 1731, landed a cargo of oriental products 
so rich that the duties to government alone amounted to 
above one hundred and seventy thousand dollars. This 
viceroy, who had the interests of his country ever at heart, 
died in 1734, leaving a large part of his wealth to benevo- 
lent objects. 

[A. D. 1 741.] Peace reigned in Mexico, but in other 
Spanish colonies war was desolating their coasts. Genera] 



39^ 



Mexico. 



Oglethorpe was at this time making his unsuccessful attack 
upon Saint Augustine, Florida, and the English admiral, 
Vernon, took Porto Bello and the forts of Cartagena. 

In 1736 there visited Mexico a terrible epidemic, called 
Matlazahiiatl, which carried off many thousands of the in- 
habitants, and it was at this time, and with the motive of 




VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE. 



obtaining divine succor, that the Virgin of Guadalupe was 
declared the patron saint of the country. Mention has 
already been made of this saint, and a slight sketch of her 
first appearance in Mexico may not be uninteresting. 



The Patron Saint of Mexico. 399 

THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE. 

It was in the year 1531, during tlie residence in Mexico 
of that rude iconoclast, Zumarraga, on the 9th day of 
December, that a poor Indian might liave been seen trudg- 
ing over the hill of Tepeyacac on his way to early mass. 
As this man of humble birth, Juan Diego by name, 
approached the brow of the hill, he heard his name called 
in a low, sweet voice. Looking up he saw a wonderful 
apparition, no less than a beautiful lady in the centre of a 
white and shining cloud, and surrounded by a rainbow. A 
voice issued from this wondrous vision commanding him 
to go to the Bishop of Mexico and tell him that she, the 
apparition, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, desired him to 
build on that spot a chapel in her honor. The trembling 
Indian obeyed, but the bishop refused credence to his 
story without a sign, and he returned dejected to the hill. 
A second time the Virgin appeared, and upon his request 
for a sign commanded him to go to the the top of the hill 
and fill his blanket with the flowers he should find there. 
Though wondering that it should be possible to discover 
flowers in a perfectly desert spot, where never yet grew 
anything but cactus and prickly-pear, Juan Diego went to 
the spot indicated, where he found a bed of lovely flowers, 
fragrant and wet with dew. " Carry these to the bishop," 
said the Virgin, "and tell him my commands." 

When the wondering Indian prostrated himself at the 
feet of the bishop, lo ! another miracle was wrought, for the 
flowers had disappeared, and in their place was seen a most 
beautiful image of the Holy Lady. The prelate was struck 
with astonishment at this great miracle, and reverently bear- 
ing the coarse blanket into his oratory gave thanks to God 
for so striking a manifestation of His power. 

This is the story, in brief, as related by the early priests ; 
and it has been the means of bringing into the church many 



400 Mexico. 

a wandering Indian, who would otherwise have rejected the 
preaching of those holy men. It touched their national 
pride, to be told that this miracle was wrought for their 
benefit, and that the apparition appeared to one of the 
lowest of their race. Contributions for the building of the 
chapel poured in from every quarter, and there now stands 
upon the site of the hermitage, erected in 1532, upon the 
spot where the Virgin appeared, a magnificent structure 
dedicated to the most adorable Virgin of Guadalupe. Do 
you not give full credence to this story ? Then enter the 
grand interior of that church, built in memory of this event, 
and walk down the nave and stand before the high altar. 
There you will see, securely framed in crystal glass, and 
once surrounded by a golden frame, that famous picture of 
the Virgin, stamped by supernatural agency upon the 
coarse tih7ia of Juan Diego, in December, 1531 ! Pro- 
cessions in her honor visit that church to-day, and her 
shrine, the chapel on the hill, is the goal of many a weary 
pilgrim. The spring of chalybeate water, and full of virtues, 
that gushed forth from the rock on which the blessed 
Virgin stamped her foot, still flows, and is the resort of 
thousands. 

[A. D. 1743.] Returning to our chronology, we shall 
find that the Spaniards met with a great loss in the year 
1743, in the capture, by the English admiral, Anson, of the 
East Indian galleon containing a cargo worth two millions 
of dollars ! It was laden chiefly with silver, and was on its 
way to the East Indies to purchase those Oriental fabrics 
which found such quick sales in the marts of Mexico, when 
the English buccaneer pounced upon it from his hidmg- 
place near Acapulco. 

[A. D. 1746.] Under the viceroy who came into power 
this year, the Count of Revilla Gigedo, the royal revenues 
were largely increased, mines cf silver and gold continued 



The Volcano of Jorullo. ' 401 

to be discovered, and even at this early period, during his 
viceroyalty, the average annual yield was over $11,000,000. 
During his term of office, nine years, there was coinedj in 
the national mint, silver to the amount of over one hundred 
and fourteen millions of dollars. The city of Mexico was 
now very populous and the people wealthy, though the 
taxes were excessive and fell heavily upon the Indians and 
laboring classes. 

[A. D. 1750.] In 1749 the crops were blighted by 
frosts, and a partial famine ensued the following year, 
corn becoming so scarce in the provinces of Zacatecas 
and Guanajuato that it sold at sixty dollars per hundred 
pounds. 

Between 1750 and 1760 great veins of silver were discov- 
ered and vast quantities of the precious ore extracted from 
the bowels of the earth. 

The year 1759 was perhaps the most notable of this 
epoch, as that, in which occurred a terrestrial convulsion 
without a parallel in history. In the state of Michoacan, 
once the ancient kingdom of the Tarascos, an immense 
volcano burst forth in a single night, on the 29th of Sep- 
tember. The plain of Malpais was once covered with fertile 
sugar-cane and indigo plantations, but in June, 1759, hollow 
rumblings began to be heard, followed by flames and 
earthquakes. In September came the terrible eruptions, 
when six great volcanic cones were thrown up, the smallest 
of which was 300 feet and the largest 1,500 ! In this man- 
ner and at this time was formed the active volcano of Jo- 
rullo, which exists to-day, and covers the site of those fertile 
plains where agriculture once flourished. 

[A. D. 1 76 1.] The capture of Havana by the Eng- 
lish threw New Spain into consternation, although the 
expected attack upon Vera Cruz was not made. Soldiers, 
gathered for the defence of the coast, fell victims to fever ; 



402 Mexico. 

and two years later, the small-pox carried off ten thousand 
people in the capital alone. 

In 1765 the visitador, Galvez, placed a tax upon the pro- 
ducers and manufacturers of tobacco, which existed for 
nearly a century, until 1856. 

[A. D. 1767.] It was during the visit of this royal inspect- 
or that the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico. Silently, 
and with great precautions against their escape, all the Jesu- 
its of New Spain were surrounded by the Spanish troops 
and collected in Vera Cruz, whence they were sent to 
Europe. This was in the month of June ; three months 
before, by the orders of the same monarch, Charles III. of 
Spain, a similar outrage had been perpetrated in the mother 
country. The members of this intelligent, though 
perhaps dangerous, order, were totally expelled from the 
dominions of the King of Spain. Untold suffering resulted, 
as many perished of fever in Vera Cruz, during their pas- 
sage across the ocean, and in the countries in which they 
were landed. Among these so unceremoniously driven from 
Mexico were men since famous in literature, most notable 
of whom stands the learned Clavigero, who wrote the best 
history of early Mexico extant, and whose writings, not- 
withstanding the indignities to which he was subjected, are 
entirely free from the coloring of jealousy or prejudice. 

The raids of the English induced the government to 
appropriate large sums for the coast defences, and several 
millions were expended in this way during a short period 
following. 

HOW A POOR :muleteer became count of regla. 

[A. D. 1770 to 1780.] Mines of gold and silver now 
yielded fabulous returns. The fleet that left Mexico for 
Spain in 1773 carried over $26,000,000 in precious metals; 
while that of the year following was laden with a cargo 



Mexico a Century Ago. 403 

equally rich. In seven years, between 177 1 and 1779, the 
mines of Mexico yielded over one hundred and twenty-seveii 
million dollars in gold and silver — chiefly silver. One 
great miner alone, in the course of eight years, presented 
for taxation four thousand seven hundred bars of silver. 
All this vast amount of silver paid a fifth of its value to 
the king. The " royal fifth " continued to be exacted up 
to the time of the revolution. 

By this single abstract from the history of Mexico at that 
period we may see that, while the British colonies in 
America were struggling for independence, the Spanish 
colonists of America were delving in the mines to furnish 
the mother country with money to carry on her w^ars. 
While our forefathers were fighting to free our country 
from tyranny the Mexicans were riveting yet more strongly 
the golden chains that bound them, to their oppressor ! 

The great mines of Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Pachuca 
were industriously worked at this period, and, in fact, have 
continued to be ever since. Men made fortunes in a very 
short time ; companies of men amassed millions, and there 
seemed, indeed, no end to the amount of treasure the earth 
was now yielding up. 

At this period flourished a remarkable man named Peter 
Terreros, who, in 1750, conceived the idea of draining an 
abandoned mine and reopening it. He commenced life as 
a poor muleteer. He worked at his project twelve years — 
until 1762. At the end of that time he had only just 
reached the main shaft ; but even then he had cleared half 
a million of dollars yearly, and had laid up an amount 
equal to 500,000 pounds weight of solid silver! But his 
good fortune had just commenced; he drew from that 
abandoned mine an amount of precious metal well-nigh 
fabulous. He could not devise ways enough to spend his 
money. He built two large ships-of-the-line and gave 



404 



Mexico. 



them to his king, and promised his sovereign that if he 
would only visit him in Mexico he should everywhere tread 
only upon silver — that he would pave the road from the 
coast to the mines with solid silver bars ! 

When this man's children were baptized the entire pro- 
cession, as it passed from his house to the church, walked 
all the way upon glistening silver bars ! What wonder that, 
in those corrupt times, this man, possessed of fabulous 
wealth, should have been created Count of Regla ! Yet 
all his great possessions have long since vanished — swept 
away in the revolution — and his descendants were reduced 
to beggary. 

In the year 1778 there died another famous miner, 
named La Bord, who accumulated a fortune of fifty million 
dollars, and who spent upon a single church more than 
half a million. 

No one can estimate what would have been the result if 
these mines had been uninterruptedly worked, nor the 
benefit to Spain if Mexico had been retained in her posses- 
sion to the present time. 

[A. D. 1785.] The Spanish government became alarmed 
about this time at the persistence of the then reigning vice- 
roy, Galvez, in fortifying and embellishing the Castle of 
Chapultepec. Up to that time above one hundred thou- 
sand dollars had been expended upon it, and it was then 
the strongest citadel in the interior of Mexico. But their 
fears were allayed upon the death of the viceroy, and the 
beautiful castle was not dismantled until a date long subse- 
quent. 

[A. D. 1788,] In December of this year the King of 
Spain, Charles III., departed this life, and was succeeded 
on the throne by the weak and dissolute Charles IV. In 
the year following there entered the capital as viceroy one 
of the most remarkable who had filled the ofiice, Don Juan 



The Count of Revilla Gigedo. 405 

Vincente Pacheco, second Count of Revilla Gigedo. He 
found the capital swarming with robbers and assassins, 
whom he soon brought to justice ; the streets obstructed 
by filth and ditches, which he soon cleansed ; and the poor 
oppressed, whom he soon relieved. He started a botanical 
garden, which exists to-day in a state of abandonment ; 
built roads, established a postal service with other cities 
and the frontier, and promoted expeditions to the north- 
ward, especially along the coast of California. 

He never trusted entirely to the supervision of his 
officers, but himself personally inspected the improvements 
he was constantly promoting. On one occasion he aroused 
his inspector of streets from his sleep at midnight, and 
commanded him to immediately repair some trifling irregu- 
larity in the pavement. On another, as he was w^alking 
through a by-street, he found himself brought abruptly to a 
halt by an obstruction of beggarly dwellings. Sending at 
once for the street commissioner he commanded him to 
extend the street through to the limits of the city. " Before 
morning," he commanded, "you will finish this road so 
that I may drive through it on my way to early mass." It 
was then sunset ; but, stimulated by fear of the con- 
sequences in case of non-fulfilment, the commissioner 
summoned a host of Indians, tore down the filthy abodes 
of misery, and, as the viceregal coach appeared next 
morning, a way was opened through which it drove. 

In 1790 they discovered, buried in the great plaza, that 
historic memento of barbarism, the great Aztec sacrificial 
stone, which now adorns the court of the National Museum. 
The energetic viceroy returned to Spain, leaving behind 
him a memory that yet lives in the hearts of the people of 
of Mexico. 

[A. D. 1796.] In this year war was declared against 
England by Spain, with results (as we shall shortly see) 
indirectly fatal to the security of her colonial possessions. 



4-06 Mexico. 

In 1797 the foundations were laid for the magnificent 
building, still standing in Mexico, known as the Mineria^ 
or school of mines. It was finished in 1814 at a total cost 
of a million and a half of dollars. 

As a consequence of the war with England the seas were 
filled with English cruisers, and the vast exports of bullion 
to Spain were in a great measure prevented. By means of 
this money retained in the country Mexico began to feel 
the impulse of quickened trade, her internal commerce was 
attended to, looms were erected, factories built, and it soon 
became apparent that she w^as less dependent upon the 
mother country than her people had generally believed. 

[A. D. 1800.] In fostering trade and developing internal 
resources the viceroy had been working in opposition to 
the plan which Spain had pursued for nearly three centuries. 
As the nineteenth century opened it brought with it the 
dawn cf a new life. Thrown upon their own resources, the 
people found that they needed the support of no other 
country in the world. In a word, they found that they had 
within themselves all the elements of an independent 
nation ! This was at first only dimly apparent to a few ; 
the masses did not recognize it ; they had been too long 
accustomed to do their thinking by proxy. But with the 
opening of the century might have been heard, by an 
observant ear, the first mutterings of that great storm that 
was so soon to sweep over Mexico and deluge her soil 
with blood ! 

The year that closed the eighteenth century brought 
with it an earthquake so terrible that the inhabitants of the 
Mexican valley were filled with terror, and long re- 
membered this visitation, which they called the "earth- 
quake of Saint John cf God." 

In 1803 a new viceroy, Don Jose Iturrigaray, was sent 
out from Spain. He was active and energetic, but avari- 



Humboldt Arrives in Mexico. 



407 



cious. He personally inspected the great mines of Guana- 
juato, and caused to be completed the great work known 




FACADE OF CASA DE LAS MONJAS. 



as the " king's bridge " on the chief highway between Vera 
Cruz and the capital, and now known as the Puente 
Nacional. 



408 Mexico. 

[A. D. 1803.] In the same year there arrived in Mexico, 
by way of the Pacific, coming up from South America, one 
whose name will survive that of all the viceroys of New 
Spain. The illustrious Humboldt set foot on Mexican soil 
in March, 1803, and spent a year in an examination of 
Mexico's resources and her historic monuments. His 
work, a " Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain," 
caused an awakened interest in that country, and first 
pointed out to the Spaniards themselves the exceeding 
richness of the territory they were about to lose forever. 

[A. D. 1808.] When, in 1808, Napoleon forced the cor- 
rupt Charles IV. to abdicate, and his equally despicable son 
to relinquish all claims to the Spanish throne in favor of 
Joseph Bonaparte, the French usurper was better received 
in Spain than in Mexico. The Spanish-born residents of 
Mexico were, as a rule, in favor of Bonaparte as against 
the Spanish Bourbons ; but the Creoles, the natives, were 
to a man faithful in their allegiance to the son of Charles 
IV., the Prince of Asturias, known as Ferdinand VII. 
They burned the proclamations sent out by Joseph, and 
arrested and sent prisoner to Spain the viceroy, Iturrigaray, 
for manifesting a tendency to recognize the Bonapartes. 
As yet, it seems, the inhabitants of Mexico had no thought 
of disloyalty to their sovereign ; but they were perplexed 
to know who their sovereign was. Charles IV. had abdi- 
cated in favor of his son and then reclaimed the throne, 
while the mighty Napoleon had stepped in and wrested it 
from both, placing the crown upon his brother's brow. 
Proclamations and demands for treasure came pouring in 
from Spain, coming from the French king, from the 
deposed Ferdinand, and from the Junta, that assumed to 
rule in the name of the people. It was in the midst of 
this perplexing condition of affairs that people began to 
inquire as to the necessity of their being governed by 
Spain at all. 



THE PERIOD OF INDEPENDENCE. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE GREAT REVOLUTION. 

[1810 to 182 1.] The first decisive blow for freedom 
was struck in the month of September, 18 10. Don Miguel 
Hidalgo, ciira, or parish priest, of the little town of 
Dolores, in the state of Guanajuato, was the one who first 
applied the firebrand to the combustible material that the 
past ten years had been accumulating. He was a well- 
educated man, a graduate of Saint Nicholas College in 
Valladolid, and had received sacred orders in Mexico in 
1779. He was born in 1753, and was a man of great 
capacity, and well-instructed in agriculture and the in- 
dustrial arts. He cultivated the vine and the mulberry in 
order to encourage his people in these labors, established 
small industries for their benefit, and by his labors for 
their good had entirely won their love and affection. This, 
in brief, was the man who placed himself at the head of 
the Mexican movement in 18 10. 

At the break of day, on the 15th of September, the 
patriot priest committed himself entirely to the cause of 
the people, and gave the watchword of Independence / It is 
known in history as the " Cry of Dolores." Thousands 
rallied about his banner ; from mountains, from valleys. 



4IO Mexico. 

from the seclusion of forest retreats, as well as from the 
midst of populous /iacie?idas, the Indians and Creoles 
poured forth to join him. The day of vengeance had 
at last arrived ! Three centuries of oppression had be- 
queathed to them its hatred of their foreign masters. The 
desire to avenge their wrongs, so long suppressed, now 
burst forth in uncontrollable iwry. 

They marched upon the noble city of Guanajuato, twenty 
thousand strong, armed only with sticks and staves, and 
with here and there a musket, but all animated with the 
same desire for the blood of their oppressors. Their war- 
cry was ''''Death to the Guachupines .f'' By this name they 
designated the Spaniards, the hated enslavers of their race. 
The Spaniards were attacked in the city of Guanajuato, 
and their stronghold fell before the savage fury of the 
Indians. For three days the insurgents rioted in murder 
and robbery. Their chief could not restrain them. 

Then the warrior-priest set his forces in motion for the 
capital, for Mexico itself, and entered the valley in the last 
days of October with an army of near one hundred thou- 
sand men. Hidalgo met a. Spanish army about twenty 
miles from the capital, attacked them with resistless fury 
and defeated them. When within fifteen miles of Mexico 
he halted, and, after a few days, commenced a retreat. 
There is little doubt that Hidalgo and his savage horde 
could have swept the valley and conquered the city had he 
but advanced instead of sounding a retreat. His prestige 
thenceforward was gone. The viceroy, Venagas, de- 
spatched General Calleja with an army of ten thousand 
men and a train of artillery in pursuit. He overtook them 
and gave batde, and though the Indians fought with unsur- 
passed bravery, the disciplined body of regular troops pre- 
vailed over the untrained masses. The Spanish troops 
were commanded by a fiend, Calleja marched upon 



Defeat and Death of Hidalgo. 411 

Guanajuato, took it, and not only put the defenders to the 
sword, but murdered in cold blood fourteen thousand de- 
fenceless men, women, and children. The streets ran 
blood, and even the fountains were choked with the life- 
current of these innocent victims. 

Thus mournfully opened the first chapter of Mexican 
independence. 

[A. D. 181 1.] Rallying his scattered forces Hidalgo 
awaited his foe again near Guadalajara. Near the bridge of 
Calderon, on the 17th of January, 181 1, the decisive battle 
was fought. The patriot chief had nearly 80,000 men under 
his command, but they were unskilled in warfare and very 
poorly armed. Hidalgo and his men at first prevailed, but 
superior disciiDline again showed its superiority over dis- 
organized masses, and the battle was turned into a massacre. 
Hidalgo and other leaders, with a few thousand of his follow- 
ers, escaped ; it was their intention to reach the United 
States, and with a portion of the rich treasure obtained in 
the sacking of Guanajuato, purchase munitions of war and 
return to renew the struggle. But they were captured, 
through the treachery of a man named Elizondo, tried by 
court-martial, and sentenced to be shot. 

The names of the leaders of this great uprising, names 
cherished by native Mexicans to-day, were Hidalgo, Allende, 
Aldama, and Jimenez. With the execution of these brave 
men ended the first great popular uprising, o.n the first day 
of August, 181 1. Their heads were cut off, carried to 
Guanajuato, and placed upon the four corners of the Castle 
of Grenaditas, where they had obtained their first victory 
over the Spanish defenders. 

The first martyrs to liberty had fallen, but the friends of 
the cause were undismayed. They were scattered in every 
direction, fugitives from justice, but only waiting a leader 
and opportunity. 



412 Mexico. 

A. D, 1812. The remainder of the year 181 1 passed 
quietly, but early in 1812, after penetrating to within twelve 
miles of the capital, the insurgents retired to the town of 
Cuautla, where they were besieged by the royal army. 
Morelos, who had assumed the leadership, made vacant 
by the death of Hidalgo, was a man of similar qualifications 
to the first, and educated in the same seminary of learning, 
in Valladolid. He was born in the year 1765, of humble 
parentage, and, though studiously inclined, could not 
gratify his thirst for knowledge till late in life. At Cuautla 
(now known as Cuautla Morelos) the patriots were besieged 
for sixty days, until, when on the verge of starvation, they 
effected a retreat. By rapid marching Morelos reached 
Orizaba, which he took, then Oaxaca, far in the south, and 
then marched upon and captured the important city of 
Acapulco, on the west coast. 

[A. D. 18 13.] In November, in the town of Chilpant- 
zingo (in the present state of Guerrero) was assembled the 
first National Congress of Mexico, composed mainly of 
distinguished men, such as the historian Bustamente, and 
the patriot Ignacio Rayon, who had kept alive the spark 
of revolution after the death of Hidalgo. 

THE FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

was made on the i6th of November, 18 13, by which the 
Mexican people gave voice to their feelings, and declared 
their resolve to dissolve their connections with the throne 
of Spain. ^Slavery was declared abolished, as also im- 
prisonment for debt, and the holding of monopolies. All 
men were declared _/r<?^ and equal h&iore the law. 

In the same month of November there appeared upon 
the scene a personage who subsequently filled an important 
place in Mexican history, Colonel Aiigiistin Iturbide. He 
was then loyal to the king, and at the head of a large force 



Death of Morelos ; Rise of Iturbide. 413 

he encountered Morelos, and defeated him in Valladolid. 
Morelos was subsequently captured through treachery, 
sent to Mexico for trial, and shot. Indomitable to the last, 
he expressed himself contented to die, since he had 
founded and left behind him the beginning of an inde- 
pendent government. He knelt before his executioners, 
saying, " Lord, if I have done well, thou knowest it ; if ill, 
to Thy infinite mercy I commend my soul." Then the 
volley was fired, and this great and generous soul passed 
from earth. 

[A. D. 18 1 4.] Persecuted on all sides, driven from post 
to post, the first Mexican Congress yet found time to 
draft a constitution for the Mexican people, dated from 
the forest of Apantzingo, October 22, 18 14. It was a year 
before the death of Morelos, which sad event occurred 
December 22, 1815. Calleja, that man of execrable 
memory, occupied the viceregal chair from 1813 to 181 6, 
and lost no opportunity for the murder of the patriots. 

Other chiefs, acting in unison with Morelos, deserve our 
notice, though space prevents more than mention of their 
names. These were Guerrero, Alvarez, Bravo, Victoria, 
Osorno, Mier y Teran, Rayon, and Matamoros, the latter of 
whom was shot in August, 18 14. The names of all these 
men, most of whom fell martyrs to the cause, have been 
kept in remembrance by a grateful people. States, prov- 
inces, and towns are called by their names, in this coun- 
try for which they fought so desperately to free from 
oppression. 

Examples of individual bravery and magnanimity might 
be cited that would fill pages with the chronicles of their 
daring deeds. Let one suffice : The generous Bravo took 
the town of Palmar by storm, capturing three hundred 
prisoners. These he immediately offered to the viceroy in 
exchange for one man, his father. The offer was rejected, 



414 Mexico, 

and Don Leonardo Bravo was led but to death at once. 
The son, learning of this, at once ordered all the prisoners 
to be liberated, saying, " I wish to put it out of my power to 
avenge my parent's death, lest in the first moments of grief 
the temptation should prove irresistible." 

Can you find in the history of any people an example of 
greater magnanimity than that ? There were heroes in 
those days ! Our fathers fought no more fiercely in the 
American Revolution, nor prolonged the struggle with less 
encouragement, than these fathers of Mexican independ- 
ence. 

Soon after the death of Morelos Congress was dis- 
banded, and the people no longer had a central point upon 
which to focus their gaze. But its principles lived ! It 
had done its work in teaching the masses the first lesson of 
freedom ! 

From the year 18 16, through 1820, Juan de Apodaca, 
Count of Venadito, represented the royal power in New 
Spain. His mild rule was admirably adapted to the 
conciliation of the dissatisfied Indians and Creoles. 

In 18 1 7 the disbanded rebels received new encourage- 
ment from an unexpected source. There was in Spain a 
guerilla chief named Xavier Mina, who had fought against 
the Bonapartes, and who, having failed in exciting a revo- 
lution, fled to Mexico with many adherents. Landing on 
the coast with three hundred and fifty men, he successively 
defeated different parties sent against him, and on one 
occasion took a fortified hacienda, with a booty of one 
hundred and forty thousand dollars. Not meeting with the 
aid he had anticipated from the Independents, he was at 
last driven to bay in the central part of the state of Guana- 
juato, where, overwhelmed by the numerous forces sent 
against him, he fell, bravely fighting to the last. Thus 
terminated the short, though glorious, career of this 



Guerrero the Patriot. 417 

champion of Mexican independence, in a little over six 
months from the time of his landing. 

There was now but one rebel chief in the field. The 
viceroy considered the rebellion crushed. But this one 
leader, alone, after all the others had been captured, or 
availed themselves of the pardon offered by the viceroy, 
maintained alive the sacred fire of liberty and independ- 
ence. Don Vicente Gicerrero — a name that should ever be 
sacred to Mexicans — retreated with his followers to the 
fastnesses of the mountains, where he protected the mem- 
bers of the persecuted Junta, or Congress, and whence 
he made frequent sallies upon the enemy. Born of humble 
parentage, in 1782, his youth was passed (as was that of 
the great Morelos) in the occupation of a muleteer. In 
18 10 he cast his lot with the revolutionists, and soon 
became famous for his valor, for his clemency to the 
vanquished, and his activity in the campaigns. Resisting 
every bribe held out to him by the Spaniards, he retired to 
the mountains of the south. The year 18 19 was the most 
fortunate of any for the patriots, for in it they had 
triumphed in twenty actions with the Spanish troops. 

[A. D. 1820.] In the year 1820 Colonel Augustin 
Iturbide, who had been appointed commander of the 
troops of the west, surprised the whole country by declar- 
ing himself in favor of the independence of Mexico. It 
was the defection of this energetic military chief, and the 
self-denial of the brave Guerrero, that gave the favorable 
turn to affairs at this critical period of Mexico's history, 
and brought to a conclusion a war that had raged during 
ten years, and had drenched with blood the soil of New 
Spain. This remarkable man was born in the city of 
Valladolid (now Morelia, in honor of Morelos) in the year 
1783. From his youth he had been in the royal service, 
and since the year 1808 had thrown all his influence 



41 8 Mexico. 

against the cause of his native land. He was celebrated 
for his bravery, his activity, and skill in strategy. On the 
i6th of November, 1820, he marched forth from Mexico 
with 5000 men in pursuit of Guerrero, hidden in the sierras 
of the south. His acute intelligence informed him how 
events were tending, and he saw that eventually Mexico 
must gain her freedom. He resolved to cast his fortunes 
with the party of the future^ rather than with that of the 
past. 

In January, 1821, instead of engaging with the patriot 
chief, Guerrero, in deadly conflict, he invited him to an 
amicable meeting. 

[A. D. 182 1.] On the 24th of February of the same year 
he proclaimed the celebrated "Plan of Iguala" — so 
named from the town in which it was first conceived — the 
principles of which were. Union, civil and religious liberty. 
He joined forces with Guerrero, that great chief granting 
him the supreme command, and their combined armies 
marched upon the capital. The skilfully-constructed 
proclamation, which, while it assured every man his liberty, 
and declared independence of Spain and all other nations, 
still professed a conditional loyalty to the mother country, 
was calculated to stir every heart. The whole country re- 
sponded, and men rose everywhere to swell the ranks 
of the " Army of the Three Guarantees " — Religion, 
Union, and Independence. 

They entered the capital in triumph and without blood- 
shed, on the 27th of September, 182 1, sixteen thousand 
strong, amidst universal rejoicing, and beneath the tri- 
colored banner, symbolizing the three important principles 
of the proclamation — Union, Religion, and Independ- 
ence ! 



Iturbide^ E7nperor of Mexico. 419 



While preparing to enter the capital, Iturbide learned 
that another viceroy had been sent by Spain, Don Juan 
O'Donoju, the sixty-fourth royal representative, and the 
last. As only the fortress of San Juan de Ulua remained 
in Spanish possession, the viceroy was compelled to recog- 
nize, provisionally, the Plan of Iguala, and the virtual 
independence of Mexico. A provisional government was 
formed, and a regency appointed, consisting of Iturbide, 
O'Donoju, Don Manuel de la Barcena, Isidro Yanez, and 
Velasquez de Leon. 

The Mexican Empire now extended from Texas to 
Guatemala, and included the Californias and New Mexico. 
It is said that, with the exception of China and Russia, it 
was then the most extensive in the world. 

[A. D. 1822.] Another Congress was assembled in 
February ; but it seems that the people were not yet ready 
for a republican form of government. On the night of the 
i8th of March, 1822, a sergeant of a regiment collected a 
disorderly mob, and proclaimed Iturbide emperor^ and on 
the 2ist of June he was solemnly crowned in the cathedral 
taking the title of Augustin I. His arbitrary conduct 
soon ahenated the people, and by dissolving the Congress 
and instituting another more in accord with his despotic 
views, he brought upon himself the enmity of his old com- 
panions-in-arms. It is at this period that we first hear of 
Santa Anna, who was such a conspicuous character in the 
subsequent war with the United States, and who was then 
Governor of Vera Cruz. He at once declared against the 
emperor, and issued 2, pronwicianiiento — or declaration — 
in favor of a Republic. All the old revolutionary chiefs 
joined with him, and Iturbide, seeing how useless it would 
be to resist, at once offered his abdication. He was 



420 Mexico. 

allowed to leave the country, being provided with a vessel 
to Italy, and allowed an annuity of twenty-five thousand 
dollars in consideration of his distinguished services. 

This was in March ; his reign had been brief, lasting 
only nine months. In July of the following year the 
exiled emperor imprudently ventured to return to Mexico, 
but had hardly set foot on his native soil when he was 
arrested, hastily tried, and sentenced to be shot. Thus 
fell another martyr to Mexican independence, one who 
had done more than any other man towards the final 
severance from despotic Spain. Thus miserably perished 
the first Mexican emperor since the great Guatemotzin. 

Congress was hastily assembled upon the expulsion of 
Iturbide, and placed the government in the hands of an 
executive power, composed of Generals Bravo, Victoria, 
and Negretti. In October, 1824, a Federal constitution 
was adopted, which was mainly modelled after that of the 
United States, though it declared the Roman Catholic re- 
ligion to be that of the Republic, and forbade the exercise 
of anv other. 



Mexico still Struggling. 421 



CHAPTER XXX. 

MEXICO STILL STRUGGLING. 

[A. D. 1825.] The first President of Mexico was 
General Guadalupe Victoria, a staunch old patriot, an un- 
compromising enemy to Spain. He had early joined the 
'revolutionists, making his headquarters among the moun- 
tains of Vera Cruz, whence he sallied with his guerillas to 
attack the Spanish supply trains on their way from coast to 
capital. Finally, he became so annoying, that a large 
force was concentrated upon his little band. Deserted by 
all his men, he fled to the fastnesses of the hills, taking 
only his sword and a little food. For thirty months this 
incorruptible patriot wandered in the forests, and when an 
Indian finally found him and guided him to a village, with. 
the welcome news that his party had triumphed, he was 
worn to a skeleton, and covered with hair like a beast. He 
was the idol of the people, a stern defender of and believer 
in a Republic, and he was the first to resent Iturbide's 
usurpation of power. But the Mexicans were not yet pre- 
pared for a Republic ; they had been too long accustomed 
to look abroad for a ruler ; they had been too long ruled to 
be able at once to take the reins of government into their 
own hands. Without sufficient education to recognize the 
abilities of the statesman, they instinctively looked to a 
military leader to guide them. From that period of Mexi- 
can history to the present, military prestige has been neces- 
sary to success in Mexican politics ! 

Though freed from the tyranny of Spain, Mexico soon 



422 Mexico. 

became embroiled in domestic quarrels that threatened the 
overthrow of the government her people had fought so hard 
to elevate. Three parties at first contended for power: 
the'Bourbonists in favor of a constitutional monarchy, with 
Ferdinand, the King of Spain, at its head ; the Republi- 
cans, in favor of a federal republic; and another party 
desiring a monarchy with a native emperor, or a central 
government ruled over by a dictator. This was the origin 
of their quarrels ; and in later years (even up to a very 
recent period) we shall see that the troubles of Mexico were 
nearly all owing to the efforts made by unscrupulous mili- 
tary chieftains to attain to supreme control. 

The fortress of San Juan de Ulua, which had held out 
until this time, was surrendered by the Spaniards in 
November, 1825. In December, 1827, the law of ex- 
pulsion was passed against the Spaniards, and symptoms of 
discontent were beginning to be manifested by leaders of 
insurgent bands throughout the country. 

[A. D. 1828.] The principal event of the last year of 
Victoria's presidency was the terrible revolt known as the 
prommciamiento of the Acordada. Don Manuel Pedraza 
was declared by a majority of the members of Congress to 
be the next president ; but this did not satisfy the Creole, or 
native, party, which was in favor of Guerrero. Santa Anna 
" pronounced " against him, and marched upon the capital 
with his troops. A mob secured control of the city, and 
robbery and murder was carried on for days unchecked, 
the fury of the rebels being principally directed upon the 
Spaniards. 

The party of Guerrero triumphed, and in January, 1829, 
Congress declared him elected president. During this 
year, 1828, the independence of Mexico was recognized by 
the United States, and a treaty of peace and commerce 
was contracted with England. This same year, also, an 



Death of the Great Guerrero. 425 

event occurred which may be said to have been the 
beginning of that bloody war that subsequently broke out 
between the United States and Mexico. Three hundred 
families, under the leadership of Austin, settled in Texas, 
then a territory of Mexico. 

[A. D. 1829.] A law was passed suppressing African 
slavery in 1829, under Guerrero, though in a certain sense 
the Indians have continued, under a system oi peonage, the 
slaves of the great landed proprietors to the present day. 

In July of 1829 a Spanish squadron from Havana landed 
troops at Tampico, with the hope of being able to excite 
their old subjects to arms and recover the country for 
Spain. But they were defeated in. battle by Santa Anna in 
September, and re-embarked for Havana, with such 
Spaniards as had been expelled from the country. ■ The 
vice-president, Bustamente, being in command of a force at 
Jalapa, intrigued with Santa Anna for the possession of 
supreme power, and " pronounced " against the president, 
Guerrero. At the head of troops, Guerrero left the capital 
to punish the traitor ; but his star had commenced its 
downward journey to the horizon. Bustamente entered 
the capital in triumph, and Guerrero, after a succession of 
reverses, was taken prisoner, and condemned to be shot for 
taking up arms against the government, of which he had 
been recognized as the legitimate head. It was thus that 
distracted Mexico rewarded her heroes ! This war-worn 
patriot, who had given the best years of his life for his 
country, was foully murdered by the representatives of the 
government, in the persons of the villain, Bustamente, and 
the arch-traitor, Santa Anna ! 

Bustamente did not remain long in power, for the fickle 
Santa Anna, who had his eyes constantly on the presi- 
dential, or dictatorial, chair, issued a pronunciamiento 
against him, and in favor of the banished Paredes, who 



426 Mexico. 

was recalled, in 1832, to serve out the few months of his 
unexpired term. 

[A. D. 1833.] Santa Anna retired to his estate, near 
Vera Cruz, but was soon called from his retirement to 
occupy the long-coveted position of chief ruler, placing 
himself at the head of a so-called liberal party. 

This remarkable Mexican was born at Jalapa in 1798, 
had passed nearly all his life in the 
army, and was at this time one of the 
foremost in intrigue as well as indom- 
itable in conflict. Complications en- 
sued with the church, which we will 
not pause to narrate here, and Santa 
Anna, after betraying his desire to as- 
sume dictatorial powers, again retired 
to his estate in Vera Cruz. He was a 
keen politician and student of events, 
and he left it to his vice-presidents, the 

SANTA ANNA. ^ ' 

celebrated Farias and Barragan, to bear 
the odium of certain unpopular acts. 

[A. D. 1835.] "^^^ cloud of war began to settle over 
the territory of Texas, where the first fighting between 
American colonists and Mexicans occurred in October, 
1835. In December, San Antonio was taken by the 
Texan general, Houston, and it was to avenge the loss of 
his troops that Santa Anna gathered over 7000 men and 
marched for the late scene of conflict. The massacre of 
the Alamo followed, by which an entire garrison was put 
to the sword by the order of Santa Anna, who deserves 
execration for this event alone, had he no other terrible 
sins to answer for at the bar of God. He later murdered 
in cold blood a body of Texans who had surrendered 
to him in good faith, and added another blot to those which 
alreadv tarnished his fame as a soldier. Defeat soon 




Events ifi Texas. 427 

followed, and he was captured in April, 1836, with the 
greater portion of his men. The Americans did not 
retaliate upon him for his atrocities, but set him at liberty 
in the following year, when, after visiting the President of 
the United States, he returned to Mexico. 

Texas was now lost to Mexico, mainly through her own 
folly in maintaining civil strife within her borders. Santa 
Anna returned in disgrace to Vera Cruz, where for a while 
he hid his hateful presence from the people ; but in 1838, 
during a political revolt, he placed himself at the head of 
an army, crushed the rebellion, and shot the leader, the 
brave Mexia. 

[A. D. 1838.] In the winter of that year Mexico was 
threatened from abroad, a French fleet appearing at Vera 
Cruz to demand satisfaction for the ill-treatment of subjects 
of that nation, and the payment of long-standing claims. 
In repelling an attack made on the city by the invaders, 
Santa Anna, bravely fighting, lost a leg. This circum- 
stance at once raised him to the place of hero in the esti- 
mation of the people, and his popularity knew no bounds. 
The French soon captured the city and castle, and only 
withdrew from Mexican shores when they had enforced 
their claims. 

Bustamente was again president during this period, 
which was one of the stormiest in the history of the infant 
Republic. Revolts appeared in every portion of the 
country, the most serious of which was that of Yucatan, 
which province for a while maintained her independence, 
and even treated with Texas for aid. 

[A. D. 1840.] Pronunciamentos were now the order of 
the hour. In July, 1840, the capital itself became the 
scene of conflict between different parties, the rebels even 
shelling the city, and involving in the destruction of their 
dwellings unarmed citizens and innocent women and 



428 Mexico. 

children. Death and destruction stalked hand in hand 
over the bloody plains of Anahuac. 

" A war Jit f 07' Cain to be the leader of — 
An abhorred^ a cursed^ a fraternal ■war?'' 

With what grim satisfaction must the Indian and the 
Spaniard have witnessed this fratricidal conflict upon the 
soil that had alternately belonged to their respective an- 
cestors ! 

The revolutionary spirit had so affected the military 
class that the intervals of peace scarcely endured for a 
month, or even for a week. In 1841 these pronuncia- 
7?iientos culminated in a great revolution, which again 
placed the wily Santa Anna in the executive chair at the 
head of a powerful central government. This coup d'etat 
was known as the "Plan of Tacubaya." Bustamente 
retired from power and left the country. 

[A. D. 1843.] In place of Congress there was assembled 
a "Junta of notables," who created a central constitution 
under the name of the " Bases of Organization." Santa 
Anna, though not always visible at the head of govern- 
ment, was invested with dictatorial powers. An interval of 
domestic peace revived in him the desire of reconquering 
Texas, but owing to quarrels about the amount of money 
necessary to be appropriated, a decision was never reached. 

In November, 1844, General V 2irQ^des profiounced 2ig2inst 
Santa Anna and his government, and in this revolt so 
great a number of rebels joined that the unfortunate 
usurper was defeated at Puebla and made prisoner. He 
was confined in the Castle of Perote under charge of trea- 
son, but finally escaped, under a general amnesty for politi- 
cal offenders, and departed from Mexico on the 29th of 
May, 1845, ^^^ Havana in Cuba. 

Freed from this turbulent man, this seditious conspirator 



Causes of War with the United States. 429 

against the public peace, the country should have enjoyed 
a short period of tranquillity ; but this was not to be. The 
seeds of disturbance had been deeply sown, the legiti- 
mate harvest was to follow. 

In 182 1 the Mexican government had granted to a 
citizen of the United States, Moses Austin, permission to 
colonize a portion of Texas, and in 1824 foreigners gener- 
ally were invited into that State by laws specially enacted 
for the purpose. This immigrant element was the cause of 
great jealousy on the part of native citizens, and in 1830 
military posts were established all over the territory by the 
Mexicans, greatly to the annoyance of the industrious, 
prosperous citizens. They took no part in the partisan 
revolutions which so constantly agitated the central portion 
of the Republic, but in 1832, jealous of the centralization 
of Mexican power as against the rights of States, rose in 
arms against the scattered Mexican garrisons. In common 
with other Mexican States, in 1835, they resisted the 
despotic overthrow of the Federal constitution of 1824 by 
the centralists of the capital. More fortunate than their 
sister States, they succeeded in maintaining their position. 
Mexican hold on the territory of Texas was finally loosened, 
at San Jacinto, in April, 1836, and, though it subsequently 
made feeble efforts to regain its lost domain, it never suc- 
ceeded. For seven years Texas maintained herself in a 
position of independence, recognized by the United States 
and other powers, until, finally, she was admitted by our 
Republic into the great sisterhood of States. 

The details of her gallant struggle for freedom belong 
more particularly to the history of our own country. We 
have to do now only with the events that led up to the final 
outbreak of war between Mexico and the United States. 
We have not far to seek for the causes. An ill-governed 
province of Mexico declares, and maintains itself, inde- 



430 Mexico. 

pendent, desires annexation to the United States, and 
is finally admitted ; not in haste, but after due deliberation. 
The Mexican minister at Washington declares it " an act of 
aggression, the most unjust to be found in the annals of 
history," demands his passports, and leaves the country. 

Meanwhile, in Mexico, the wise and liberal Herrera 
(during whose administration these events occurred) is 
ejected from power by the rebel General Paredes, who is 
for war to the knife. Thus ends the year 1845. 



War with the United States. 431 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES. 

[A. D. 1846.] "We believe," says that gifted writer 
on ancient and modern Mexico, Brantz Mayer, " that our 
nation and its rulers earnestly desired honorable peace, 
though they did not shun the alternative of war. It was 
impossible to permit a conterminous neighbor who owed us 
large sums of money, and was hostile to the newly-adopted 
State, to select unopposed her mode and moment of attack. 
Mexico would neither resign her pretensions upon Texas, 
negotiate, receive our minister of war, nor remain at peace. 
She would neither declare war, nor cultivate friendship, 
and the result was, that when the armies approached each 
other, but little time was lost in resorting to the cannon 
and the sword." 

In January, 1846, General Zachary Taylor (who became, 
subsequently. President of the United States) was ordered 
to move with his men to the mouth of the Rio Grande, 
where he commenced fortifications opposite the Mexican 
city of Matamoros. 

The first decided act of hostility was a skirmish with 
rancheros, and on the 24th of April Colonel Thornton, with 
sixty-three dragoons, fell into an ambuscade and was 
obliged to surrender, after his little band had lost sixteen 
killed and wounded. Palo Alto was the point at which the 
first actual engagement between the rival forces took place, 
between Point Isabel, General Taylor's base of supplies, 
and Matamoros. The Mexicans, 6,000 strong, under 



432 



Mexico. 



General Arista, opposed the passage of the Americans, 
about 2,300 in number. After a stubborn fight the former 
withdrew, with a loss of about one hundred. This was on 
the 8th of May ; on the ninth the fighting was renewed at 
the ravine of Resaca de la Palma^ three miles north of 




Matamoros. After but a short engagement, though the 
Mexicans outnumbered the Americans three to one, the 
latter were routed and retreated across the Rio Grande. 
Our garrison at the fort — since called Fort Brown, in 
honor of its commander, who was slain at that time — was 



The Attack on Montej^ey. 433 

relieved, and on the i8th of May General Taylor crossed 
the Rio Grande and occupied Matamoros. He had now, 
indeed, crossed the Rubicon. There was no retreating, to 
advance was perilous, for the invaded country (disorgan- 
ized as it was) was hurrying troops to the rescue of its 
northern provinces. He had been instructed to act with 
caution, to commit no act of aggression, but to protect 
Texas effectually from invasion. Sprea'ding his army along 
the Mexican bank of the Rio Grande, General Taylor 
leisurely advanced from this extended base of operations, 
at the same time setting every energy in motion to recruit 
forces, and to arm, equip, and provision an army sufficient 
for defence. By September he had advanced as far as the 
neighborhood of Monterey, the capital of the State of New 
Leon. This was the key to the northern provinces. In 
this important fastness the Mexican General, Ampudia, 
had collected an army of 10,000 men, and awaited attack, 
expecting to annihilate the bold invaders. The city of 
Monterey is the oldest in the northern portion of Mexico, 
having been founded in 1590. Lying in the centre of 
a fertile plateau, 1,600 feet above the sea, surrounded with 
groves and gardens, it is a well-built city of stone, with 
large and handsome public buildings. 

The American army appeared before this strongly fortified 
place 6,500 strong, and on the 21st of September com- 
menced the assault. On the 22d a commanding position, 
called the Bishop's Palace, was carried by storm by 
General Worth, and the next day the city was taken. 
From house to house and from street to street, our brave 
soldiers fought their way, carrying on a deadly, hand-to- 
hand conflict with the enemy, who assailed them also from 
housetops and terraces, until the great central square was 
reached, and Monterey was theirs ! Owing to the small 
numbers of the attacking party, General Ampudia was 



434 



Mexico. 



allowed to capitulate with conditions that permitted him to 
withdraw his forces intact. The first great battle had now 
been fought; seven thousand Americans, without heavy 
guns, had defeated nearly ten thousand Mexicans in their 
own chosen stronghold, and defended by forty pieces of 
artillery. 

"MONTEREY." 

" We were not many, — we who stood 

Before the iron sleet that day ; 
Yet many a gallant spirit would 
Give half his years if but he could 

Have been with us at Monterey. 

Now here, now there, the shot it hailed 

In deadly drifts of fiery spray. 
Yet not a single soldier quailed 
* When wounded comrades round them wailed 
Their dying shout at Monterey. 

And on, still on, our column kept, 

Through v/alls of flame its withering way ; 
Where fell the dead the living stept, 
Still charging on the guns which swept 
The slippery streets of Monterey. 

The foe himself recoiled aghast, 

When, striking where he strongest lay. 
We swooped his flanking batteries past. 
And, braving full their murderous blast, 
Stormed home the towers of Monterey. 

Our banners on those turrets wave, 

And there our evening bugles play ; 
Where orange-boughs above their grave 
Keep green the memory of the brave 

Who fought and fell at Monterey. 

We are not many, — we who pressed 

Beside the brave who fell that day; 
But who of us has not confessed 
He'd rather share their warrior rest 

Than not have been at Monterey ? " 



Conquest of California. 437 

The note of alarm was sounded throughout the United 
States at the first tidings of bloodshed on the Rio Grande. 
Congress, then in session, immediately voted ten millions 
of dollars to carry on the war, and ordered the raising 
of fifty thousand volunteers. The whole country, especi- 
ally the Southern States, quickly responded, and soon 
regiments and battalions were hurrying forward to the 
scene of conflict. Owing to the alniost incredible exertions 
of the veteran General Wool, three large bodies of troops 
were soon in motion towards the southwest. An Army 
OF THE West was placed under the command of the brave 
Indian fighter, Kearney, to march westward upon New 
Mexico and then cross to California. The Army of the 
Centre, under General Wool, w^as to invade the more 
northern provinces, and then finally join, the Army of 
Occupation, under General Taylor. 

The brave Kearney, with 1,600 men, left Fort Leaven- 
worth, on the Missouri, the 30th of June, and, after a severe 
march of nearly nine hundred miles, captured Santa Fe, 
capital of New Mexico, without a blow being struck in de- 
fence. Possession was thus obtained, and has ever since 
been held, of those northern territories of Mexico which 
have since yielded us such vast stores of gold and silver. 
After organizing a new government, Kearney pushed on, 
through the almost trackless wilderness, for California. 
Meanwhile, in that far-distant province of Mexico, the 
drama of independent war had been enacted with vigon 
On the 14th of June the few Americans who had straggled 
into that country banded together and took Sonora, and 
on the 25th they were joined by the intrepid Fremont, who 
was doing topographical work for government m that terri- 
tory, July 5, raising an independent flag, the patriots de- 
clared their independence of Mexico. On July 8 Com- 
mander Montgomery of the American navy took possession 



43 8 Mexico., 

of San Francisco, and on August 13th Fremont and Stock- 
ton captured Los Angeles. . The first news of actual war 
between Mexico and the United 'States reached this iso- 
lated band of Americans on the 7th of July, when they also 
learned that Commodore Sloat had raised our flag at 
Monterey. 

Kearney, with his small band of troopers, entered Cali- 
fornia in December, worn and wasted by their long and 
fatiguing march. They were soon attacked by the native 
Calif ornian cavalry, and he lost twenty or thirty men at a 
place called San Pascual ; but they succeeded in reaching 
the American camp by the middle of the month. 

By the last of December, 1846, the American party, 
after enduring privations and trials of great magnitude, had 
obtained possession of the greater portion of Upper Cali- 
fornia, and by the middle of January, 1847, ^^^ subjugated 
this valuable Mexican province, which, a year or two later, 
opened to the world its subterranean treasure of gold. 

The Navajo Indians, who threatened an outbreak, were 
quelled by a force of Missourians under Colonel Doniphan, 
who subsequently marched southward into the State of 
Chihuahua, where, after several engagements, he entered 
the capital, the large and substantial city of the same name. 
Then, after a rest of several weeks, he set his troop in 
motion for the headquarters of General Taylor, which he 
reached in the spring of 1847, having accomplished a toil- 
some journey of over five hundred miles, and traversed 
nearly all the frontier states of Mexico. 
, In the latter months of 1846 an expedition was planned 
^% the War Department of the United States that was 
destined to strike at the very heart of the Mexican nation. 
Under General Scott (whose valuable services are too well- 
known to need recapitulation here) proceedings went 
actively forward for an invasion of Mexico by the port of 



Santa Anjta to the Rescue. 439 

Vera Cruz, whence it was determined to march direct upon 
the capital. Our squadrons were already blockading the 
eastern and western ports, our armies (as we have already 
seen) had successfully invaded the northern states and 
provinces. The fatal blow was to be aimed at the central 
power of the Republic. 

Our forces were in great strength in the valley of the 
Rio Grande, under such able generals as Taylor, Butler, 
Quitman, Worth, Patterson, and Pillow, but the demands 
of General Scott, which withdrew the greatest number to a 
different region, weakened General Taylor's command at a 
moment most critical. Though successively beaten at 
every point of attack, the Mexicans had promptly rallied 
after each encounter. Fresh hordes were pouring down 
upon the little American army, now so reduced by the 
levies of the imperious Scott as to be compelled to assume 
only the defensive. By the end of December a force 
of twenty thousand men had assembled at San Luis Potosi, 
south of Monterey, and the centre of one of the richest 
mining regions of the country, under the command of 
General Santa Anna. 

This irrepressible revolutionist, whom we have seen 
suffer defeat after defeat, and finally exiled to Cuba, had 
returned to his native land under peculiar circumstances. 
Believing that his presence in Mexico would aid the form- 
ing of a speedy peace, the Government of the United States 
had given orders to the blockading squadron off Vera Cruz 
to permit the returning exile to land in peace. He had no 
sooner done so than he issued a manifesto, proclaiming to 
the people that he had radically changed his views, and no 
longer believed in a central government, to the exclusion 
of the outside states, and recommended the adoption of 
the liberal constitution of 1824. When he arrived at 
the capital, on the 15th of September, the people hailed 



440 



Mexico. 



him with frantic demonstrations of joy. Tliere was, indeed, 
no man to whom they could turn to deliver them from the 
northern invaders as to Santa Anna. They thought they 
saw in him their savior and their liberator. With charac- 
teristic energy, he immediately commenced organizing the 
bands of recruits that poured in upon him from every 
quarter. The people, for a short time, seemed united, but 
their rulers were not ; they still 
thirsted for power, they were di- 
vided into bitter factions. While 
the enemy was pounding at their 
gates these foolish demagogues 
wasted precious time in quarrelling 




TABLE-LAND OF MEXICO. 



over a vanishing power ! At last the hero of many pro- 
nwiciamentos posted off towards the field of action, to 
the north. He reached San Luis Potosi, and organized 
an army of twenty thousand men. But his efforts were 
for a while paralyzed by the quarrels of the foolish factions ; 
he merely stood at bay. At last, however, his observant 
eye noted the decimated ranks of his opponent, and he 
resolved upon action. 



Battle of Bttena Vista. 441 



BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA. 

[A. D. 1847.] About ninety miles southwest of Monte- 
rey is the Uttle hamlet of Buena Vista, now famous for the 
important and decisive battle fought there between the 
forces of General Taylor and Santa Anna. Becoming- 
aware that a movement of importance was about to be 
made against him by the enemy, General Taylor withdrew 
his forces to a strong natural position in the pass of Angos- 
tura. On the 2 2d of February his pickets were driven in 
and skirmishing ensued. On the 23d an attack was made 
in force, and a most desperate and sanguinary battle 
followed. The command of General Taylor was scant five 
thousand strong, while the force of Santa Anna was full 
four times that number. But numerical superiority on the 
part of the enemy was balanced by the strength of the 
American position — a small plateau surrounded by almost 
inaccessible hills, and further defended by impassable 
ravines and barrancas. Santa Anna's large army, by 
being obliged to concentrate in the gorge, could not make 
available one half its strength, and as it poured through the 
narrow defiles its ranks were swept by the murderous fire 
of artillery. Desperate efforts were made by the Mexicans 
to break the American line of defence ; again and again 
they valiantly charged up to the guns. But all in vain. 
The wisdom and sagacity of the leader that had chosen 
this strong natural position, and the valor of his soldiers, 
were more than a match for the fiercest charges of the 
furious foe. Once they almost succeeded in turning our 
flank, but at the appearance of the brave Taylor himself at 
the opportune moment, the advance was checked and our 
flying troops halted. Night fell upon the scene of conflict 
with the bloody struggle still going on ; but under cover of 
its darkness the Mexicans effected a retreat. The field 



442 



Mexico. 



was covered with the slain, the Americans losing 750 men 
and the Mexicans about 2,000. 

With the remains of his shattered army the unfortunate 
Santa Anna retreated to San Luis Potosi ; but though de- 
feated he was not dispirited, and by his pompous bulletins 
he almost made the Mexicans believe that they had won 
and the Americans had lost. This was, as yet, the most 
decisive battle of the war ; it forever crushed the power of 
Mexico in the northern provinces. 

But though our gallant soldiers had gained a mighty 
victory they were not permitted to advance and occupy the 

country, but were compelled to 
remain idle, while the forces of 
Scott were marching on to final 
triumph. Santa Anna reached 
San Luis Potosi with but half 
his army remaining, and this force 
in a thoroughly demoralized con- 
dition. He had no time for rest, 
for the enemy was already at 
Vera Cruz, and he must turn 
upon a new army of the dreaded 
North Americans. He dispatched 
a portion of his troops in that 
direction, and hastened to the capital. There all was 
strife. For a month the idiotic men in power had been 
wasting their energies and the energies of the nation in 
senseless contentions. Santa Anna calmed the tumults, 
and impressed the combatants with the necessity of 
rousing themselves to meet a foreign foe. Unprincipled 
and unscrupulous as was this man, Santa Anna, he was 
unquestionably the animating spirit of the defence. The 
troubles in the capital had arisen from acts of the Furos, 
or the advanced party, in trying to induce the church 




GENERAL SCOTT. 



Strife of Parties in Mexico. 443 

to part with a portion of its large revenue in aid of the 
defenders of the nation. True to its principles, it had 
refused, and its adherents had precipitated the capital 
into the midst of civil strife. 

We will not confuse the memory with the names of am- 
bitious men who were temporarily in power at this period, 
since none of them attained to more than local celebrity. 
Six changes occurred in the executive alone during the year 
1847. It is a wonder that the people knew on which side 
they were fighting. Few, in reality, did know ; and many 
welcomed the coming of the North Americans as a relief 
from the perils of civil war. 



444 Mexico. 



CHAPTER XXXIL 

THE MARCH UPON THE CAPITAL, 

[A. D. 1847.] From a fleet of one hundred and sixty- 
three transports, on the 9th of March, General Scott landed 
his army of twelve thousand men, just below the historic 
city of Vera Cruz. On the i8th he summoned the city to 
surrender, having placed his batteries in position, and upon 
its refusal opened upon it a heavy cannonade from shore 
and from the ships in the harbor. For eight days the 
heroic defenders of Vera Cruz withstood the siege, but at 
last the terrific fire of shot and shell compelled them 
to capitulate. Scott and his army marched in and took 
possession, on the 26th of March. Six thousand shot and 
shell had been thrown into the devoted cit}^, many build- 
ings were destroyed, and one thousand lives were lost. 
The famous fortress of San Juan d# Ulua, built on the 
island where the Spaniards first landed in 15 17, fell with 
the city. 

It is a pestilential spot, this city of Vera Cruz, where 
fevers rage and hurricanes blow fiercely half the year. The 
yellow fever, the dreaded vo7?iito, carries off its thousand 
victims yearly. General Scott did not care to remain long 
in such a plague-stricken locality, and, owing to the com- 
pleteness of his magnificent preparations, he was enabled 
soon to leave the coast and march towards the highlands. 
Three centuries and a quarter before, Hernando Cortez had 
commenced his march towards the Aztec capital, an 
invader, like these Americans, but bent upon murder and 



The March upon the Capital. 



445 



pillage, while these sought only justice and reparation for 
deep offences. 

The Mexican nation made one more effort through her 
indomitable president for concerted action. Santa Anna 
frantically appealed to them to forget all domestic differ- 







^^HIHUAHUA 










III" 'JiV' //-i V 









V\0 






''y'-^^fej^--v^i 



MAP SHOWING SEAT OF OPERATIONS. 



ences and unite against a common foe. " Though chance," 
he proclaimed, " may decree the fall of the capital of the 
Aztec empire under the power of the proud American 
host, yet the Nation shall not perish ! " 

By the middle of April Scott had left behind him the hot 



44^ ' Mexico. 

and unhealthy lowlands — the tierras calientes — and was 
about entering the hills. It was where the table-lands 
abruptly end above the hot, low plains, where a river forces 
itself through deep chasms, where deep ravines and barran- 
cas seam the mountains, and the road winds through a 
narrow defile hewn out of the mountain sides, that the 
American general found his path obstructed. The Mexicans 
had fortified the naturally strong position of Cerro Gordo. 
They had erected breastworks, fortified the ridges and hill- 
tops, and planted batteries. The position was considered 
impregnable — a deep rocky ravine protected one side, and 
on the other was the steep and inaccessible mountain. 
The top of Cerro Gordo bristled with cannon, which were 
trained so that they could sweep the road, for a mile of its 
length, with a fire before which no command could stand. 
General Scott soon saw that a direct approach would 
expose his army to a fatal cannonade, and so contrived to 
flank the battery, while demonstrations were made in front 
and on either side. The division of General Twiggs 
stormed and carried the centre of Cerro Gordo, while the 
brigades of Shields and Riley charged furiously upon the 
main fort and batteries, causing the Mexicans to fly in 
utter rout, and turned upon them the guns of their own 
fortifications. 

The loss of the enemy was not less than a thousand, 
while ours was something over four hundred. Three thou- 
sand prisoners, including two hundred and eighty oflicers 
and five generals, fell into our hands, besides five thousand 
stand of arms and forty-three pieces of artillery. The 
whole American force amounted to eight thousand five 
hundred. General Santa Anna escaped with great difli- 
culty, leaving his wooden leg on the field in the hurry and 
confusion of his departure. 

Our forces immediately pushed on and occupied Jalapa 







fe.. i^Mia 



MEXiCAM VALLEY 

OF 

U.S. ABMY. 






-)^IV'^^^/' ^/ .SAN ANTOMO 



^^ 




The American Army in the Valley. 449 

and the Castle of Perote, where they captured a large 
amount of arms and artillery. Pursuing their march over 
the great plateau a portion of the army under General 
Worth captured, on the 2 2d of May, the large and 
important city of Puebla, a city containing, to-day, 70,000 
inhabitants, and celebrated for the number of its churches, 
convents, and cotton mills. 

Santa Anna, the irrepressible, again gathered a small 
army and opposed the march of Worth, but was obliged 
to retire with loss. The Congress and the politicians 
passed valuable time in squabbles amongst themselves, 
instead of rallying the people as a unit to repel the 
advancing enemy. But the courage of the nation was not 
broken, and, unfortunate as he had been, the people still 
looked to Santa Anna to yet lead them to victory. While 
they were passing their time in dissensions. General Scott 
had gradually quartered all his forces in Puebla, whence 
he sent fruitless missions to negotiate for peace. 

An army of twenty-five or thirty thousand Mexicans was 
soon gathered in the threatened capital. As soon as it 
was found that General Taylor would not advance farther 
southward, the army of General Valencia, which had 
opposed him, was withdrawn to Mexico, while from the 
south came General Alvarez with a large body of Pinto 
Indians. Both coasts were now in our possession, and 
merchandise passing in and out of the country as in times 
of peace, only a slight duty being retained by our com- 
mander for the maintenance of the war. 

[A. D. 1847.] On the 7th of August General Scott left 
Puebla, and pushed on towards the city of Mexico with ten 
thousand enthusiastic soldiers. They surmounted the 
mountain barriers that hemmed the lovely valley in from 
the world outside, and finally looked upon the city they 
were soon to conquer. Three hundred and twenty-eight 



450 Mexico. 

years before, also in the month of August, the army of 
Cortez had chmbed those very hills, and had turned their 
gloating gaze upon the Aztec capital. On the nth of 
August the troops were concentrated in the valley, near 
Ayotla and the ancient town of Chalco. 

If you will examine the map you will not fail to observe 
what a commanding position the American general had 
taken. Four routes diverged from this point and led to 
the city. The most direct was that passing the southern 
border of Lake Tezcoco and entering the city at the gate 
of San Lazaro. To-day a railroad traverses that same 
great causeway, and runs past Chalco and Amecameca 
down into the western lowlands. Another road led by the 
way of Mexicalcingo, a portion being over the same great 
causeway down which Cortez and his intrepid soldiers 
marched so exultingly three centuries before. Both these 
roads were defended by strong fortifications, the first 
especially, which w^as commanded by the isolated hill. 
El Penon, bristling with cannon from base to summit, and 
swarming with soldiers. A more open, though longer 
route, lay around Lake Tezcoco to the northward, through 
the city of Nezahualcoyotl — Tezcoco. Here, in anticipation 
of a movement in this direction, Santa Anna had stationed 
Valencia with his troops from the north. 

The fourth and last approach was fully as circuitous, 
skirting the lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco and the bases 
of the southern and western hills. It was the most rugged 
and the least known to the American engineers, but was 
finally chosen by General Scott, who believed it to be, in 
the end, the most facile approach to the city. 

Forts and fortified posts completely enclosed the be- 
leaguered capital. Besides the impregnable position of 
El Penoii there were fortifications at and near Guadalupe 
on the north, while the different gates of the city were 



The Mexican Forces Concentrate. 453 

amply defended. The strongest positions, after El Penon, 
seem to have been the very ones that General Scott de- 
signed first to march against, and these were, at the 
hacienda of San Antonio, Churubusco, Chapultepec, and 
Molino del Rey. On the 15th of August the army was set 
in motion, in four divisions, commanded by Generals 
Worth, Pillow, Quitman, and Twiggs, in the order named, 
while General Scott took his position in the centre. The 
Mexican, Alvarez, attacked them with his Pinto Indians, 
but they were soon driven away, and on the i8th the 
entire army entered the town of San Augustin, or Tlalpam, 
at the base of the south-western hills. 

Santa Anna, commanding in the centre of the circle, 
about the circumference of which General Scott was mov- 
ing, was able to concentrate his troops at any given point 
with great facility. Even at this late day, it is with feelings 
of concern that one views the situation of the American 
army at this juncture. Surrounded on every side by 
almost impassable hills and sedgy lakes, far distant from, 
and with a desperate foe between it and its base of 
supplies, with an active enemy comprising thirty thousand 
fighting men to contend with, this little handful of ten 
thousand men was indeed in a most perilous position. 
The country was at last aroused and united in the common 
endeavor to drive the hated invaders from it3 soil. Every 
resource was now being drawn upon ; church bells were 
cast into cannon, and the military and religious leaders 
were using every endeavor to excite their followers to 
fanatic zeal in behalf of their country and their religion. 

Beyond the town of San Augustin was a dreary waste 
called the Fedregal, a rugged lava field, impassable except 
by a single mule path. Through this the army must march 
if it would avoid the fortified positions of San Antonio 
and Churubusco, where Santa Anna had concentrated 



454 Mexico. 

troops sufficient to almost overwhelm the Americans by 
their masses. The first engagement in the valley took 
place here, at Contreras, on the 19th of August. General 
Valencia, had, contrary to the orders of Santa Anna, left his 
position at San Angel and Coyoacan, where he was within 
easy supporting distance of his commander-in-chief at San 
Antonio, and thrown up an intrenched camp. At three 
o'clock on the morning of the 20th the brigade commanded 
by General Persifer E. Smith advanced upon the enemy's 
camp. By a gallant and brilliant charge they stormed the 
intrenchments, and drove the enemy, panic-stricken, from 
the field. This wt.s considered by General Scott one of 
the most brilliant feats of arms ever, at that time, recorded 
in the annals of war. The Mexican loss was seven hundred 
killed and eight hundred prisoners, besides field-jDieces, 
guns, standards, and ammunition. General Valencia, who 
commanded this army of the north — considered the best 
in the field — fled a fugitive to the hills, hiding from the 
wrath of Santa Anna, who ordered him shot at sight. 

There is little doubt that he contributed largely to the 
American success by his disobedience of the orders of the 
commander-in-chief, and that the gallant charge of Smith's 
brigade relieved the penned-up invading forces from a 
dreadful dilemma. San Antonio was soon taken, and then 
there only remained the convent at Churubusco. Uniting 
by different roads, the combined forces swept down upon 
the fated fortress. It was considered one of the strongest 
positions in the valley ; the massive Avails of an old convent 
being pierced with loop-holes for musketry, and mounted 
with heavy cannon. Within these walls were gathered the 
flower of the INIexican defenders, the national guard, be- 
sides a band of renegade Irishmen who had deserted from 
the American ranks, and now fought, with characteristic 
perfidy, against the soldiers of their adopted countr}\ 



The City Threatened. 455 

These miserable wretches formed a battalion called Saint 
Patrick's, and very smnmarily received their deserts after 
the convent was taken. The convent was taken finally 
after a most desperate fight, lasting nearly three hours, and 
after the outworks had been carried at the point of the 
bayonet, under a tremendous fire, a white flag appeared. 
Sixteen hundred prisoners were the result of this day's 
fighting, besides those taken at the Pkdregal. 

The Mexicans had battled nobly in defence of their 
capital, fighting individually with the fury of despair. But 
all had been in vain ; the last defence between their city 
and the invading army had been destroyed, their stronghold 
lay open to direct assault. With shouts of triumph, the 
exulting Americans pursued the flying foe to the very 
gates of the city, a detachment of Harney's cavalry even 
dashing up to the inner walls. 

While our army was yet flushed with victory, and eager 
to enter the undefended city, the prudent general in com- 
mand ordered a recall. Night was coming on, and, even 
though the enemy were panic-stricken and demoralized, 
prudence showed that the hour had not arrived when 
this small band of eight thousand men should enter a 
stronghold containing two hundred thousand inhabitants. 
After the dead had been buried, the wounded cared 
for, and the spoils secured, the army bivouacked on the 
plains it had so bravely won. The 21st of August came, 
and General Scott prepared to take up positions whence 
he could use his battering-cannon with effect against the 
city walls. It was then that the enemy requested an 
armistice, which our commander-in-chief, from motives 
that must ever redound to his credit, finally granted. The 
different divisions were quartered in Tacubaya, San Angel, 
and Mixcoac, villages clustered about that historic city of 
Coyoacan, whence Cortez, in that memorable siege of 



456 Mexico. 

Mexico of 1520, conducted operations against the Aztec 
defenders. Overtures of peace were made to the Mexi- 
cans, which, after tlrey had gained by deUberation impor- 
tant time in which to recuperate and reorganize, were 
rejected. Considering tlie great disparity of forces, — 
that the Mexicans outnumbered the Americans ten to one, 
— it is not strange that the people of the threatened cap- 
ital refused to treat for peace so long as defences yet 
remained. The only unaccountable thing is, that they did 
not have sufficient courage to unite and sweep them from 
the face of their country. But they did not, and they 
must forever bear the stigma of being conquered in their 
own chosen strongholds by a mere handful of soldiers. 

Santa Anna improved every moment of rest that the 
armistice allowed him in strengthening his position, in 
raising troops, and in arming the mob of leperos that in- 
fested the capital. Then he sent answer that the voice of 
his people was for war, — war to the knife ! 

Scott was prepared for this, and resolved upon instant 
action. Three important points of defence yet remained 
to guard the city ; the strongly-fortified castle and hill of 
Chapultepec ; the Molino del Rey^ or King's Mill — a mass- 
ive stone building filled with troops, and defended by 
heavy cannon ; and the Casa Mata — another building of 
great strength filled with supplies of war. These points 
were promptly reconnoitred, and an aggressive movement 
made on the morning of the 8th. It was a glorious aifair, 
that capture of Molino del Rey, and, though many a gal- 
lant soldier fell before the cannon of the foe, the massive 
structure was at length shattered, and the forces within it 
driven, flying like sheep, before the bayonets of the Amer- 
icans. The Casa ]SIata was foolishly stormed, when it 
should have been battered to pieces by the artillery ; and 
dreadful carnage was made amongst our troojDS as they ad- 



The Storming of Chapultepec. 459 

vanced, time after time, to the assault. But this strong 
work was finally blown up and destroyed, the Molino de- 
molished, and the foe flying, panic-stricken and demoralized, 
towards Chapultepec and the city. Eight hundred pris- 
oners were ours, besides cannon, ammunition, and small 
arms in such quantities as. to be superfluous. Again had 
the Americans gained a victory against superior numbers ; 
for on this day, in this short fight, — which was over by 
nine o'clock in the morning, — they had whipped and 
driven in terror before them four times their number of 
Mexican soldiers. A little over three thousand had de- 
feated twelve thousand in their own chosen places of 
defence ! The American loss was one hundred and six- 
teen killed and six hundred and sixty-five wounded. 

After rendering the spots so recently bristling with can- 
non unavailable by the enemy as places for defence, the 
Americans retired. Eager, and borne onward by the im- 
pulse of victory, there is little doubt that the invincible 
battalions could have then carried the castle and hill of 
Chapultepec, which now, of all the fortified posts in that 
portion of the valley, alone remained. But events justified 
General Scott in his order for a recall, and showed the 
subtle strategy by which he discomfited his wily adversary. 
The storming of Chapultepec was reserved for a pur- 
pose ! The object in view was not to get into the city 
merely, but to enter it at its weakest point, and where 
there were fewest soldiers to defend the gates. Santa 
Anna, seeing the fall of Chapultepec, would naturally con- 
clude that the attack would be made upon the western 
gates of the city, — which were nearest to Chapultepec, 
and reached by direct roads. This, in reality, was the 
plan of General Scott ; but, in order to divert Santa Anna's 
attention from the real point of attack, it was necessary he 
should be made to think otherwise. So General Twiggs 



460 



Mexico. 



was ordered to manoeuvre with his troops in front of the 
garita, or gate, of San Antonio, up to which our cavalry 
had so gallantly charged at the storming of Churubusco. 
Large bodies of troops were sent in 
that direction by daylight, 
but recalled by night to 
Tacubaya, where they were 
A held in readiness for the 
final assault upon the 
real ob- 
ject of at- 



tack — C h a- 

pul te pec. 

Heavy guns 

were placed 

so as to com- 

m a n d the 

castle, and 

during the 

whole day of 

the 1 2 th of 

Sept ember 

they rained 

shot and 

shell up o n 

the devoted 

garrison. At f^^ 

about eight p 

o'clock on ^^^^'Tr^^^- ^J^^^^^^^^' 

the mornmg chapultepec. 

of the 13th the great guns suddenly ceased, and the 

assaulting party dashed forward. Rapidly crossing the 





MEXICO AT PEACE. 



Capture of the City. 463 

interval between Molino del Rey and the hill of Cha- 
pultepec, they placed their scaling-ladders against the 
walls, and poured over the fortifications like a resistless 
inundation. It was a heroic charge, for they had to clam- 
ber up the precipitous hill in the face of a galling fire, 
unsupported by artillery or friendly guns ; and it was hero- 
ically resisted by the gallant old revolutionary general, 
Bravo, and his band of cadets from the military academy. 
A monument at the base of the steep cliffs of Chapultepec 
records their deeds and laments their early fall ; while 
another, back of Molino del Rey, commemorates the 
bloody action there. Still desperately fighting, the routed 
garrison fled along the causeways of Belen and San 
Cosme, hotly pursued by the eager Americans. 

The castle was ours. From its tower our flag soon 
floated, above our victorious general and over the defeated 
Bravo and a thousand prisoners. General Worth led his 
troops at once down the road of San Cosme, while Quit- 
man charged upon the gate of Belen. Two great aque- 
ducts diverge from Chapultepec, the one going direct to 
the gate of Belen, about two miles away ; the other enter- 
ing the city at San Cosme, by an indirect course, both bound- 
ing two sides of a triangle. Worth wisely halted at the gate 
of San Cosme, and, planting a mortar and cannon, held 
the position during the night until the morning of the 14th, 
when he marched into the city as far as the Alameda. 
Quitman penetrated the city walls under the very guns of 
the formidable citadel, and gained and held a position 
there all night. General Twiggs, at the southern gate, had 
performed his part with equal gallantry and forbearance, 
and had so diverted Santa Anna by his annoying fire 
and feints of assault that he had completely disconcerted 
that puzzled commander, and made it possible for Worth 
and Quitman to capture the western gates before the 



464 Mexico. 

Mexicans could recover from their surprise and mass their 
troops to oppose them. The American triumph was now 
complete. The Mexican leaders, vanquished at every 
encounter, were now as completely demoralized as their 
army, and at midnight they retreated with their entire band 
of followers from the city. The next morning a brilliant 
cavalcade escorted the victorious commander-in-chief to the 
great central square, and the American flag was hoisted 
above the National Palace. Upon the same spot, in the 
same great plaza that once saw the entry of Cortez and his 
army, the Americans halted and consummated their tri- 
umph. The city had fallen, for the first time to an external 
foe since it was wrested from Aztec possession by Cortez 
and his band of Spaniards. 

If permitted to indulge in comparisons, we should say 
that the Aniericans had accomplished a task of greatei* 
difficulty than the Spaniards. Instead of finding a people 
wholly unacquainted with the use of fire-arms, and even 
the sight of horses and ships, as did Cortez, they had 
encountered an active, intelligent foe, equally well equipped 
and versed in the science of war with themselves, and a 
country alive throughout its length and breadth with 
hatred of the invaders. There is no knowing what fate 
would have befallen our army had the country been united 
in its efforts under wise and patriotic leaders ; but the 
same causes that contributed to the destruction of the 
Aztec empire weakened the strength of the Mexican 
nation, — hatred of the controlling power and universal dis- 
trust of its leaders. The fact remains, however, that the 
army of the United States did, in spite of every danger 
from forced marches in the rainy season, — the sickliest 
of the year, — in the face of a vengeful enemy swarming 
from every hill and valley, overcome patiently every 
obstacle, and finally plant its victorious banner upon the 



Siege of Puebla, 465 

capitol of the nation, in the very heart of the excited 
country. 

The visitor to Mexico to-day may see a reminder of this 
fact in the shape of a monument to our fallen heroes in 
the American cemetery. 

Perhaps a harder task than the capture of the capital 
was the government of it, after the heads of power had 
fled and had let loose in their flight the desperate inmates 
of their prisons. A hideous monster lifted itself into view- 
in a few days in the shape of a mob, which assaulted the 
victors from roof-tops and ctmrches for the space of two 
days. This mob was composed mainly of the filthy leperos, 
— the vilest, most degraded wretches that ever infested 
any portion of the earth. From the earliest days Of 
Mexico, these abandoned villains have existed there, and 
to-day even they prowl about the streets of the beautiful 
city. 

Martial law was proclaimed, and the city, placed under 
the protection of American honor, was soon at peace, en- 
joying a security of life and property that it had never felt 
under its own chosen government. Santa Anna and his 
generals had fled to Guadalupe, and thence, reforming 
their army, marched upon the city of Puebla, and to the 
attack of the scattered garrisons guarding the American 
connections with the base of supplies at Vera Cruz. 

The garrison at Puebla had been left in command of 
Colonel Childs, with but four hundred men on duty, and 
guarding eighteen hundred in the hospitals. For three 
weeks they were closely besieged by the rising of the 
masses, and by a force swelled to eight thousand troops on 
the arrival of Santa Anna. Their condition was most 
desperate until General Lane, fighting his way all the dis- 
tance from Vera Cruz against fierce bands of guerillas, 
came to his assistance. Santa Anna, marching out to 



466 Mexico. 

meet him, was defeated on the 9th of October, and on the 
13th the gallant garrison was relieved from danger by the 
pursuit and dispersion of the besiegers. Mexico was yet 
full of soldiers, which, if collected together, might have 
been made into a formidable army ; but leaders and fol- 
lowers were demoralized, and no successful attempt was 
made. Bands of guerillas infested the country, — those 
daring and desperate horsemen \vho, acting individually or 
in small bodies, annoyed the army by suddenly swooping 
out of their places of concealment, murdering and plunder- 
ing without mercy, and then escaping to their strongholds. 
These w^ere now pursued relentlessly by the Americans, 
and their principal haunts broken up, though they for a 
long time proved a terrible scourge to the line of 
communication. 

The most difficult matter now before the American com- 
mander was to conclude a permanent peace. A commis- 
sioner, Mr. Nicholas Trist, had been sent out by our gov- 
ernment, with full powers to treat with the Mexicans for 
honorable peace. He had made overtures to them at dif- 
ferent times, when they might have accepted them without 
a sacrifice of national honor ; but these they rejected. 

Now we were in a position to dictate such terms as we 
chose ; but the difficulty was, to find a government with 
which to treat. The country was ours by right of con- 
quest ; but the United States, as a great nation, fully alive 
to the demands of the enlightened age in which these events 
were transpiring, forbore from committing any act that 
would irritate a noble though conquered people. It had 
been the policy of the commander-in-chief to allow no act 
of aggression to be committed ; personal property had 
been respected ; even the supplies for the army purchased 
and paid for. 

[A.D. 18.18.] A govermnent was finally discovered with 



Treaty of Peace. 467 

which to treat; and on the 2d of February, 1848, a treaty 
of peace was signed at the sacred town of Guadalupe, 
three miles from the capital, and on the 30th of May 
finally ratified. By this treaty the United States acquired 
the territory of Texas, New Mexico, and Upper California ; 
the boundary lines between the two Republics were regu- 
lated and defined ; and Mexico received, as indemnity, 
fifteen millions of dollars, besides which the United States 
assumed her indebtedness against American citizens, 
amounting to over three millions more. 

The American armies were withdrawn during the sum- 
mer, and the Mexicans left to the somewhat difficult task 
of governing themselves. 

Santa Anna, who had played the most conspicuous part 
in the defence of his country, was again an exile, having 
been allowed to leave the coast in April, with all his treas- 
ure and domestic property, for Jamaica. For a while he 
remained under a cloud ; but he soon emerged, and we 
shall meet him again in the councils of the nation. The 
American army had accomplished its mission, — it had 
cornpelled a haughty and stubborn foe to submit to the 
demands of reason. In its invasion of the country it had 
not stooped to plunder, nor had it left behind any record 
of barbarity. It had marched steadily forward, encounter- 
ing disease and death unflinchingly, fighting bravely every 
battle imposed upon it ; and from the beginning to the end 
every battle had been a victory ! We may well take a natu- 
ral pride in this army of our fathers, especially as we com- 
pare it with the armies of other powers, and we may review 
with pleasure their moderation in those repeated and over- 
whelming successes. 



468 Mexico. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE ERA OF REFORM. 

[A. D. 1848.] For a brief period, after the withdrawal 
of the American army, the Mexican people drew the breath 
of peace, disturbed only by outbreaks headed by the tur- 
bulent Paredes. The notorious guerilla, Padre Jarato, was 
made prisoner and shot, and attempts made to destroy 
those bands of brigands, the guerillas, that had proved so 
troublesome to the American army, and which were now 
murdering and despoiling their own countrymen. For 
many years these murderous cut-throats existed in their 
mountain fastnesses, rendering all travel in the interior 
insecure ; and even to-day they infest portions of the 
country, and set all law at defianceo 

In June, 1848, Senor Herrera, (who had been in power 
at the opening of the war with the United States) took pos- 
session of the presidential chair.* For theyfrj*/ Z/;;^^ within 
the memory of men then living, the supreme power changed 
hands without disturbance or opposition. The administra- 
tion of Senor Herrera was conspicuous for its tolerance 
and its economy. The army — that fruitful source of dis- 
turbance — was greatly reduced, arrangements were made 
with creditors abroad, and for the faithful discharge of 
internal affairs. 

[A. D. 185 1-.] General Mariano Arista, formerly min- 

" Por primera vez, se vis en Mexico que el poder supremo pasase de unas 
manos a otras sin violencia y por el ministerio de la ley." — Compendio de 

LA HiSTORiA DE MEXICO. 



The RevohUions Reviewed. 469 

ister of war, assumed peaceful possession of power, in 
January, 185 1, and continued the wise and economical 
administration of his predecessor. But Mexico could not 
long remain at peace, even with herself; she was quiet 
merely because utterly prostrated, and in December, 1852, 
some military officers, thirsting for power, rebelled against 
the government. They commenced again the old system 
of pronunciamientos ; usually begun by some man in a 
province distant from the seat of government, and grad- 
ually gaining such strength that when finally met by the 
lawful forces they were beyond control. Rather than 
plunge his country anew into the horrors of a civil war, 
General Arista resigned his office and sailed for Europe, 
where he died in poverty a few years later. 

[A. D. 1853.] It may astonish any one except the close 
student of Mexican history to learn the name of the man 
next placed in power by the revolutionists, for it was no one 
else than General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna ! Re- 
called by the successful rebels from his exile in Cuba and 
South America, Santa Anna hastened to the scene of con- 
flict, sniffing from afar the smoke of battle and gloating 
over prospective spoil with which to replenish his depleted 
treasury. Instead of devoting himself to the establishment 
of law and order, he commenced at once to extend in- 
definitely the army, and to intrench himself in a position 
of despotic power, and, in December, 1853, he issued a 
decree which, in substance, declared \ivci\. perpetual dictator. 
This aroused opposition all over the country, and the 
Liberals, who were opposed to an arbitrary centralized 
government, rose in rebellion. The most successful leaders 
were Generals Alvarez and Comonfort, who, after repeated 
victories, drove the arch conspirator from the capital, on 
the ninth of August, 1855. Santa Anna secretly left the 
city of Mexico, and a few days later embarked at Vera 



470 



Mexico. 



Cruz for Havana. During several years he resided in 
Cuba, St. Thomas, Nassau, and the United States, con- 
stantly intriguing for a return to power in Mexico. We 
have not yet taken a final farewell of this man, who for 
forty years formed so conspicuous a figure in Mexican 
politics. Alvarez and Comonfort took possession of the 
capital^ and in October, 1855, the former was elected 
president. He held this office but a few months, when, 
owing to the infirmities of age, and seeing symptoms of 
disaffection hi the Liberal party, he resigned in favor of 
Comonfort, his minister of war. Formidable rebellions 
soon broke out against this liberal government among the 
officers of the great army revived by Santa Anna, and one 
of them at the head of five thousand men took the city of 
Puebla. Hastily assembling an army of sixteen thousand, 
Comonfort met the rebels and routed them, in March, 
1856, and again in October of the same year. During 
this time he was only provisional president, but in Decem- 
ber, 1857, he was elected constitutional president by a large 
majority of votes. 

[A. D. 1857.] The year 1857 ushered in a period of 
Mexican history most critical^ when the life of the nation 
hung in a balance. To understand the condition of things 
at the beginning of this period, and the causes for sub- 
sequent actions during the next fifteen years, we must recall 
some of the leading events since the year 18 to, when 
Hidalgo of Dolores raised the cry of indepenence. 

The Mexican revolution as a whole, writes a learned 
investigator, " involved three great events or proceedings : 
I. The throwing off of the yoke of Spain, and the main- 
tenance of an independent organic existence. II. The 
overthrow of the ecclesiastical system at hojne, which, like 
the pall of Egypt, overshadowed the whole land. III. The 
construction of a new government on principles in harmony 




SAGRARIO, OR PARISH CHURCH, CITY Ol--" MEXICO. 



The Church Power in Mexico. 473 

with the ' rights of man,' and the spirit of modern 
civilization. 

" The latter implied a complete reconstruction of society 
in all the domain of government, of religious institutions, 
and of the entire fabric of civil, social, and educational 
life. . . . From 1824 (when the first really National 
Congress met, and the first Constitution was published) to 
1853, the country was rent and torn by a succession of 
conflicts, in which the distinctive principles of the two 
great parties were ever uppermost. The Church power 
was wielded with indefatigable and unscrupulous energy, 
to baffle the Republicans and stay the progress of consti- 
tutional freedom. But its march was irresistible ! " 

We may trace this determined opposition to the efforts 
for freedom through a period of over fifty years. It began, 
perhaps, with the excommunication of Hidalgo and 
Morelos ; and throughout the whole long struggle, eccle- 
siastical artillery smoked and thundered on the side of 
oppression and against the defenders of liberty. The most 
bitter hatred of the Church was evoked in 1846, when the 
patriot, Gomez Farias, recommended that a loan of fourteen 
million dollars should be asked of that body, and if refused 
that it be raised by a sale of Church property. This was at 
a moment when the very existence of the nation was threat- 
ened by an external foe, and when the government was 
completely impoverished, though the Church possessed 
" three hundred millions of the most valuable property of 
the nation." The request was refused, and Farias driven 
in disgrace from power. 

Thanks to this refusal of assistance to the Mexican nation 
in time of sore need, the victories of the Americans were 
rendered easier ; thanks to them, also, are due for the sub- 
sequent civil strife, and the intervention of a foreign power 
and a foreign prince ! 



474 Mexico. 

The Mexican Church was, according to the highest 
authorities, the most corrupt on the face of the earth at 
that time. It was a worthy offshoot of that central force 
of corruption and despotism ruled over and guided by the 
Pope at Rome. So long as it seemed to be for its inter- 
ests to do so, it supported the policy of the King of Spain 
in his colonial possessions. It could not resist the temp- 
tation of becoming absolute mistress of the New World, at 
the successful revolution of Iturbide, and bent its influence 
for the time to the cause of Mexico. But as soon as it 
saw the tendency of the people towards religious, as well as 
civil freedom, it became a bitter and uncompromising 
enemy of that people towards acquiring the rights which 
had been long denied them. From the Pope the priests had 
long been in possession of special privileges and exemp- 
tions. Through them, the vicegerent of Peter issued his 
Bulls for the benefit of their dissolute flock. There were 
" bulls " that would absolve one from every crime except 
heresy ; bulls that would pass a sinner's soul through 
purgatory ; bulls that would release a thief from the obli- 
gation to return stolen goods ; and bulls to wash away 
even the stain of murder! Rich and poor availed them- 
selves of these opjDortunities for escaping the penalties of 
crimes, and into the treasury of the Church flowed the 
wealth of the entire countr}^ Added to these sources of 
emolument, were fue?'os, or privileges, which secured to 
the clergy a tithe of everything produced or imported into 
the country. Evey article of necessity and luxury was 
taxed for the support of these useless incumbents of 
cathedrals, churches, and convents. All these, besides the 
voluntary contributions of the faithful, and the vast estates 
wrung from death-bed penitents, to escape the pains of 
purgatory, swelled the accumulations of the Roman 
Catholic Church in Mexico to an almost fabulous amount. 




MEXICAN PRIESTS OF THE PAST. 



Sketch of Juarez. 477 

In 1850 it was estimated that the property then held by the 
Church amounted to a total of from one-half to two-thirds 
the entire wealth of the nation ! 

Including the members of the various conventual estab- 
lishments, Dominicans, Franciscans, etc., there were, in 
1850, seven thousand ecclesiastics supported by the con- 
tributions of the people. The cathedrals — notably those 
of Mexico, Puebla, and Guadalajara, — were ablaze with 
gold and jewels, the spoils of centuries of oppression of a 
superstitious people. 

Is it a wonder that these long-suffering people groaned 
loudly under their burdens ? Is it strange that, looking at 
this great parasite settled upon their fair land, — sapping 
the life-blood of their nation, fattening upon the toil of 
themselves and their children, — the Mexican people 
should begin to inquire why it was permitted to exist ? 
For centuries past the Church had strangled inquiry into 
its doings. By means of fire, and torture, and the Inquisi- 
tion, it had prevented the crushed and prostrate people 
from asking questions. 

But now, in the years 1856 and 1857, its doom was 
sealed. It had been foreshadowed in 1846, when Gomez 
Farias ventured to inquire why it was the Church should 
not be made to contribute towards the preservation of a 
nation, the downfall of which would prove its ruin. At 
that time it became evident to close observers that a 
champion of the oppressed had arisen. Among those 
who eloquently advocated the passage of this measure 
was a young lawyer, named Juarez. 

Born of poor parents, in 1806, in a hill town of 
Oaxaca, Southern Mexico, Benito Juarez lived till he was 
twelve years of age without being able to read, write, 
or even speak, the Spanish language. He was a true 
Mexican, a Zapotec Indian, of unadulterated blood. The 



478 



Mexico. 



race of Indians to which he belonged, the Zapotecs, had 
never been wholly conquered by the Spaniards ; more than 
once have these Indios de las Sierras^ — " Indians of the 
hills " . — marched down into the valleys, and dictated terms 
to their rulers. It was fit that the future deliverer of 
Mexico from the thraldom of three centuries should have 
been born of such stock. 

We have not space to dwell upon the career of this 
remarkable man, but will note that, after having been a 




PORTRAIT OF JUAREZ. 



member of the city council of Oaxaca, a civil judge, 
and Secretary of State, he was elected by the people a 
deputy to the " General Constituent Congress," which met 
at the capital of the Republic in December, 1846. It was 
there he showed himself the friend of freedom and the un- 
compromising enemy to oppression that his later acts 
proved him to be. 

In 1853, in the "Plan of Ayutla" — the announcement 
of principles for which they fought — Generals Alvarez and 
Comonfort sounded the death-knell of the Church. In 



Overthrow of Comonfort. 479 

July, 1855, at great personal peril, Juarez joine the army 
of Alvarez and marched with him to the capital. He had 
previously met with harsh treatment, and had even been 
imprisoned and sent into exile, by Santa Anna, whose over- 
throw he now saw so triumphantly accomplished. 

His history now becomes a part of that of his country, 
for he was identified with every prominent political move- 
ment -from this period until his death, in 1872. Alvarez 
(as we have already seen) was proclaimed President of the 
Republic in October, 1855, and ajDpointed Juarez his 
" Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs." The 
sweeping laws of reform instituted by this enemy to the 
Church were sanctioned by the constituent Congress, which 
met in February, 1856, and, after a year's deliberations, 
adopted the famous "Constitution of 1857." The first 
National Congress, in 18 12, had declared in their consti- 
tution, first, that the Catholic religion only should be 
allowed in the State, and that the press, while " free for all 
purposes of science and political economy, was not free for 
the discussion of religious matters." In the forty-five 
years that had passed since then the people of Mexico had 
learned a bitter lesson, and resolved to profit by it. The 
representatives of the people now declared not only the 
right of everybody to any religion he chose to adopt, but 
to full and free discussion. The celebrated "Law of 
Juarez " " aboUshed the whole system of class legislation, 
suppressed the military and ecclesiastical fueros — the 
privileged and special tribunals and charters of the army 
and the clergy — and established, for the first time in 
Mexico, equality of the citizens before the law.^^ 

[A. D. 1858.] Comonfort was not equal to the occasion 
this crisis in the affair of nations demanded. He turned 
traitor to his party (the Liberals) and gave the government 
into the hands of the Church party. On the 17th of Decern- 



480 Mexico. 

ber, 1857, General Zuloaga, commanding a brigade in the 
army, "pronounced" in favor of the Church ^tv^ .agai7ist 
the Constitution. He was aided by Comonfort, who, on the 
nth of January, 1858, was denounced and abandoned by 
the very party he had so materially aided, and driven from 
the country. He later repented of his treason, and re- 
turned from Europe during the French invasion, taking 
arms with the defenders of liberty, and was assassina4;ed by 
the hirelings of the Church. Zuloaga, in January, pro- 
claimed the " Plan of Tacubaya." The leading principles 
of this " plan " were in direct opposition to those of the 
Constitution — to those of Reform. Had the people of 
Mexico sanctioned them they would have lost all they had 
gained by fifty years of fighting. The dark cloud of the 
previous century would again have settled down upon their 
nation. 1^)1^ fueros were to be restored — "under which 
the military and clergy are responsible only to their own 
tribunals " — the Roman Catholic was to be the only 
religion tolerated, and immigrants admitted only from 
Catholic countries ; the press was to be subjected to 
censorship ; an " irresponsible central dictatorship, sub- 
servient solely to the church," was to be established, look- 
ing, if possible, to 2, restoration of a monarchy. Mark these 
principles ! for they give the key to events during the 
subsequent foreign intervention. 

By the flight of Comonfort the presidency devolved upon 
the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Benito Juarez. 
After trying in vain to combat the hydra-headed enemy to 
freedom, represented by Zuloaga, Miramon and others in 
command of the army, Juarez and the loyal members of 
his cabinet hastened to Guanajuato, where they organized 
the government on the basis of the Constitution of 1857. 



Civil War. 481 



THE "war of reform. 

The party of the " old regime " was not recognized out- 
side the capital, and again we see the States arrayed 
against a central, dictatorial power. Juarez was promptly 
recognized as the president of the people^ and, during the 
long years of strife that followed, he nobly sustained the 
trust imposed upon him at their hands. The army was 
mainly against him, the Church — with all its money and 
influence — was against him ; but the people^ brushing from 
their eyes the cobweb of superstition, rallied in increasing 
numbers about the banner of reform. 

At first the national guards were defeated. In March, 
Juarez and his cabinet were captured and on the point of 
being shot by a rebel chief ; rescued by a noble patriot 
leader, they retreated to Colima, in great danger all the 
way. In April Juarez embarked at Colima for Vera Cruz, 
to reach which port he was obliged to cross the Isthmus of 
Panama, sail for New Orleans, and thence take passage 
for the ancient seaport, where he arrived in May. 

The " Three Years' War of Reform " lasted from 1858 
through 1 86 1. In the year i860 the people elected Juarez 
constitutional president by an overwhelming number of 
votes. In July, 1859, he decreed the " Laws of Reform," 
by which the property of the Church was confiscated and 
declared to belong to the nation. The forces on both 
sides were incited anew to fresh conflict, and many and 
sanguinary battles ensued. Among the heroes who aided 
Juarez in the defence of the constitution were : Doblado, 
Gonzalez Ortega, Santos Degollado, Zaragoza, Arteaga, 
and many others, equally worthy of mention, but whom 
space precludes. Against them, in the interests of the 
Church and oppression, fought Generals Zuloaga, Miramon, 
Osollo, Robles, Taboada, and Marquez. Death, in the 



482 Mexico. 

field, or by the hand of the assassin or executioner, has 
taken most of these men away. 

The decisive battle between the contending parties was 
that of Calpulalpam, December 25, i860, subsequent to 
which the Liberal army entered and took possession of the 
capital, followed (January 11, 1861,) by Juarez and his 
cabinet, amid great rejoicings. 

His election, and the popular endorsement of his policy, 
had been by overwhelming majorities, and as soon as he 
found himself within the capital he set himself at once to 
promote the welfare of the long-suffering people. But no 
time was allowed the harassed Republic for rest, for that 
insane fratricidal strife had attracted the attention of the 
outside world ; the leading powers of Europe had united 
against poor Mexico, and their fleets were even then headed 
towards its coasts. 



The French lutervention. 483 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE FRENCH INTERVENTION. 
(1861-1867.) 

[A. D. 186 1.] For full forty years had Mexico been 
convulsed with internal feuds, and during this long period 
she had passed through thirty-six different forms of govern- 
ment and under seventy-three rulers. Such a series of un- 
paralleled revolutions and changes of administration could 
not but attract the attention of all the world. As early 
as April, 1861, Secretary Seward, of the United States 
government, wrote to Mr. Corwin, our minister at Mexico : 
" For a few years past the condition of Mexico has been so 
unsettled as to raise the question on both sides the 
Atlantic whether the time has not come when some foreign 
power ought, in the general interests of society, to intervene 
to establish a protectorate, or some other form of govern- 
ment in that country, and guarantee its continuance there." 

This was a note of warning, showing that the United 
States, though jealous of the intervention of European 
powers, yet recognized the possibility — perhaps the 
necessity — of such. In March, i860, the governments of 
France, England, and Spain, under pretext that the war in 
Mexico would be interminable, offered mediation, proposing 
to guarantee to one party the establishment of social reforms, 
and to the other that of conservative political principles. 
The conservative, or Church party — which the foreign 
powers were disposed to recognize as the de facto govern- 
ment of Mexico, while the Mexicans themselves disavowed 



484 Mexico. 

it — invited mediation ; but the republican president sternly 
and steadily refused it. The popular vote sanctioned 
his course a few months later in re-electing him consti- 
tutional president of the Republic. 

The defeat of the army of the Church was not immedi- 
ately followed by peace, its scattered forces formed them- 
selves into marauding bands, which robbed and murdered 
indiscriminately. It w^as not the fault of Juarez that peace 
was not at once restored, for, in addition to foes without, 
he had enemies in his own party. Personal ambition, and 
the desire of each one to carry out his various theories of 
government, caused divisions in the Liberal ranks. " The 
people had risen in arms against despotism ; it was necessary 
to restore this body to their normal condition in the republic, 
and to cause them to return to their distinct social posi- 
tions, from which they had been forcibly driven by the 
tumult and the necessities of the conflict. Each several 
State considered itself as a political entity, and was ac- 
customed during the civil war to an unlimited sovereignty. 
"With the varied and conflicting elements of the difficult 
situation were interwoven the pretensions of the diplo- 
matic representatives, growing out of the different interna- 
tional questions which had arisen in the nation during the 
course of the civil war." 

The country was entirely exhausted, it was impoverished, 
and the government without funds. To provide these it 
was compelled to resort to extraordinary measures, even to 
imprison capitalists and negotiate forced loans. * In this 
great strait it was resolved to suspend jDayment of the 

-The obnoxious article in the law of 17th Jul\', 1861, is as follows: — 
"Art. I, From the date of this law the government of the Union will re- 
cover the coinflete pi'odnct of the federal revenues^ deducting from them only 
the expenses of the administratio7i of collecting, aitd all payments are sus- 
pended for tzvo years, inchtdiiig the assignments for the loan made in 
London and for the foreign conventions.^'' 






Mexico's Desperate Measure. 485 

interest on all debts, internal and foreign, for the space of 
two years from July 17, 186 1. With the funds thus 
obtained from their revenues, diverted temporarily to the 
relief of the country, all armed opposition could be put down, 
internal peace preserved, and order restored. " Tliis once 
achieved, the leaders of the party would adhere to the 
written constitution, and enforce obedience to law ; and in- 
dustry, secure in its reward, wojild soon take the place of 
idleness and crime." 

This certainly would have followed ; but the struggling 
party — represented by its congress and president — made 
a serious blunder when it suspended the payment of its 
foreign obligations.* Though it was argued that the sus- 
pension was but temporary, in order to allow the exhausted 
nation a chance to breathe, and to restore law and order, 
Mexico's foreign creditors did not view the matter in that 
favorable light. The ministers of France and England — 
especially the former, who was deeply in sympathy with the 
Church party, and detested the Liberals — immediately re- 
sented this " outrage " against their governments. It 
finally ended in their demanding their passports and sus- 
pending diplomatic communication. The claims of 
France were ridiculously small, and based upon question- 
able transactions. Those of England were greater, but 
founded upon claims equally unjust. Over half a million 
was for the robbery of the English legation by the minions 
of the very Church party that was urging intervention, and 
a large sum for indemnity for outrages upon British sub- 
jects by the guerillas of the Church — the "Party of the 
Reaction," or retrograde principles. Such as they were, 

* The amount of this indebtedness, in 1861, was: English Bondholders, 
^63,000,000; English "Convention," ^5,000,000; Spanish "Convention," 
^8,000,000 ; French (exaggerated) about ^10,000,000. Total about ^;86^- 
000,000. 



486 Mexico. 

however, they had been secured by treaty, and the govern- 
ment in power was bound to respect them. Making this 
act of the Juarez government a pretext, Spain, France, and 
England entered into the tripartite alliance, in London, 
October 31, 186 1. A few months later, December 22, 
1861, Spanish troops were landed at Vera Cruz, under 
General Prim, and the ships of England and France were 
on their way to the same port. 

The government of the United States had been kept 
advised of the progress of events by its ministers in Eng- 
land and Mexico, and was not unprepared for all that 
followed. Mr. Corwin, two weeks after the passage of the 
law, had written Mr. Seward as follows : " Her (Mexico's) 
late suspension, leading to the cessation of diplomatic re- 
lations with England and France, may, perhaps, have been 
imprudent. She could not pay her debts, however, and 
maintain her government ; and perhaps it was as well to 
say she would not pay for two years as to promise to pay 
and submit herself to the mortification of constantly asking 
further time. She is impoverished to the last degree by 

forty years of civil w^ar I cannot find in 

this republic any men of any party better qualified, in my 
judgment, for the task than those in power. If they do 
not save her, then I am quite sure she is to be the prey of 
some foreign powers 

The United States was invited by the powers (though 
tardily) to join them in demanding redress ; but she assured 
them that, far from having a desire to destroy the auto- 
nomy of Mexico, she had instructed her minister there 
to offer to negotiate a loan for her relief. This answer 
to the allied powers (in part) is given here, that coming 
generations may be reminded of the friendliness of our 
government to our sister republic, and of the wisdom and 
forbearance that guided the ship of state during the dark 
period when civil war disturbed our own land. 



Friendliness of the United States. 487 

" It is true, as the high contracting parties assume, that 
the United States have, on their part, claims to urge 
against Mexico. Upon due consideration, however, the 
President is of opinion that it would be inexpedient to seek 
satisfaction of their claims at this time through an act of 
accession to the convention. Among the reasons for this 
decision are, first, that the United States, so far as it is 
practicable, prefer to adhere to a traditional policy, rec- 
ommended to them by the father of their country and 
confirmed by a happy experience, which forbids them from 
making alliances with foreign nations ; second, Mexico 
being a neighbor of the United States on this continent, 
and possessing a system of government similar to our own 
in many of its important features, the United States 
habitually cherish a decided good-will towards that republic, 
and a lively interest in its security, prosperity, and welfare. 
Animated by these sentiments, the United States do not 
feel inclined to resort to forcible remedies for their claims 
at the present moment, when the government of Mexico is 
deeply disturbed by factions within and war with foreign 
nations. And, of course, the same sentiments render 
them still more disinclined to allied war against Mexico, 
than to war to be urged against her by themselves alone." 

" The undersigned is further authorized to state to the 
plenipotentiaries, for the information of Spain, France, and 
Great Britain, that the United States are so earnestly anx- 
ious for the safety and welfare of the republic of Mexico, 
that they have already empowered their minister residing 
there to enter into a treaty with the Mexican republic, con- 
ceding to it some material aid and advantages, which it is 
to be hoped may enable that republic to satisfy the just 
claims and demands of the said sovereigns, and so avert 
the war which these sovereigns have agreed among each 
other to levy against Mexico." * 

* "Diplomatic Correspondence, Mexican Affairs/' 1862, p. 1S9. 



488 



Mexico. 



This friendly offer could not, however, be entertained, as 
the allied powers considered the Mexicans answerable, not 
only for the guaranteed interest on their claims, but for the 
repeated outrages the subjects of these joowers had received 
at the hands of her soldiers and citizens. 

Owing to the masterly diplomatic action of Senores 
Zamacona and Doblado, a treaty was made by which the 
English and Spanish troops returned to their ships, glad 
to retreat from the disgraceful position into which they 
had been forced. The French troops, however, persisted 
in marching into the interior, the Emperor of France con- 
sidering this a good opportunity for the establishment of 
French dominion in Mexico, while the country was vexed 
with distracting strifes and while the United States, like- 
wise, were plunged into the horrors of civil war. 

They occupied Orizaba without opposition, and in May 
marched upon Puebla, where they were repulsed by Gen- 
eral Zaragoza. 

[A. D. 1862,] This victory, known in*Mexican annals 
as the "glorious victory of the Fifth of May," was the 
most decisive ever won by the Mexicans against a foreign 
foe. The yearly anniversary of this day is celebrated 
throughout the republic with great rejoicings. 

The Emperor of France sent to Mexico his best troops, 
and a year later, in May, 1863, General Forey, commander 
of these forces, advanced upon Puebla and took it. On 
the thirty-first of the same month they took possession of 
the capital, the Juarez government retreating into the in- 
terior, taking its stand, in June, in San Luis Potosi. Aug- 
mented by the troops of the Church party, — Mexicans 
recreant to their obligations to their country — the French 
advanced steadily, northward and southward. Juarez, 
with his loyal cabinet, was driven from place to place, at 
last reaching Chihuahua, and finally taking refuge in Paso 
del Norte, a small town on the border. 



Advent of Maximilian. 489 

Napoleon and his battalions accomplished (perhaps) for 
Mexico what her various rulers had never yet been able to 
do — they aroused that spark of patriotism so long dormant 
in many breasts, and united her people against the invaders. 
Upon all sides might have been seen the rising of an aroused 
and outraged population. Generals fit to command were 
quickly found — born of the emergency — to lead these 
patriots. We cannot name them all. The savior of the 
south, fighting desperately in Oaxaca, was General Porfirio 
Diaz, who later became president of the republic ; Negretti 
and Escobedo disputed with the enemy in the north. 

THE ADVENT OF MAXIMILIAN. 

Upon starting out on the expedition against Mexico, 
France expressly disclaimed any intention of interfering in 
the internal affairs of that country. The following extract 
from the letter of instructions from the minister of France 
to Rear Admiral Graviere, commanding the French squad- 
ron, will explain the assumed attitude of the powers : 
" The allied powers do not propose to themselves, I have 
said to you, any other object than that which is indicated 
in the convention ; they forbid each other from interfering 
in the internal aff^airs of the country^ and especially from 
exercising any pressure upon the wishes of the people as to the 
choice of their government.'^ 

Notwithstanding the protestations of France, her troops 
had no sooner shaken themselves clear of those of England 
and Spain, than they at once marched upon the two chief 
cities of Mexico, took them, and immediately prepared the 
way for the imposition of a foreign ruler upon the unwilling 
inhabitants. They occupied the city of Mexico on the loth 
of June; on the i6th, the French general issued a decree 
for the formation of a provisional government. A " Supe- 
rior Junta " was elected, by the influence of the French 



490 Mexico. 

commander-in-chief, and this Junta chose a substitute for 
Congress under the name of the " Assembly of Notables," 
composed of two hundred and fifteen persons. The As- 
sembly invested the president and secretaries with extraor- 
dinary powers, and they were solemnly installed on the 
8th of July. In other words, the Junta elected the Assem- 
bly, and the Assembly chose the Junta, to be the supreme 
executive power of Mexico, — a farcical proceeding as ridi- 
culous as it was iniquitous ! Three clauses of their 
"Decree," issued July ii, 1863, will explain who were the 
moving spirits, and what their motives : — 

ist. "The Mexican Nation (?) adopts for its form of 
government a limited, hereditary monarchy, with a Catholic 
prince. 

2d. The Sovereign will take the title of Emperor of 
Mexico. 

3d. The Imperial Crown of Mexico is offered to His 
Imperial Highness, Prince Ferdinand Maximilian, Arch- 
duke of Austria, for him and his descendants." 

On the 15th of August a commission embarked at Vera 
Cruz for Europe, empowered by the " provisional executive 
power," or the regency, to offer the crown of Mexico 
to Prince Maximilian. They were received by the Arch- 
duke on the third of October, at his residence near Trieste, 
the Castle of Miramar. Two years previously, on the 30th 
of October, at the time the powers were drawing up the 
tripartite treaty of alliance, a party of Mexicans residing in 
Paris had addressed Maximilian, inviting him to the mythical 
throne of Mexico. His reply at that time was worthy of 
him ; it was as follows : " My co-operation in favor of the 
work of governmental transformation, on which depends, 
according to your convictions, the salvation of Mexico, 
could not be determined, unless that a natio7ial manifesta- 
tion should prove to me, in an undoubted man?ier, the desire 



Maximilian Leaves for Mexico. 491 

of the nation to see me occupy the throne." These senti- 
ments he expressed two years later, when the commission 
(appointed by the Assembly of Notables, which had been 
elected by the Jmita, which had been elected by the As- 
sembly) approached him with their flattering offer. He 
declined accepting it until he had heard an expression of 
the people's voice. 

[A. D. 1864.] This the regency pretended to obtain, 
and in March, 1864, another deputation waited upon him 
and claimed compliance with his promise. Misled by what 
he was led to believe was a popular call to the throne, he 
yielded his consent, and on the tenth day of April, at the 
Castle of Miramar, accepted definitely the crown of Mexico. 
On the same day, the treaty of Miramar was signed between 
Maximilian and Napoleon III., by which the French Em- 
peror pledged himself to support the new ruler until firmly 
seated upon his throne, both with his legions and with his 
gold. 

After taking leave of his royal relatives, and after a 
journey to Rome to receive the special blessing of the 
Pope, Maximilian and Carlota, Emperor and Empress of 
Mexico, set sail for the distant country they had been called 
upon to govern across the sea. 

Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, brother to the Em- 
peror Francis Joseph, was born in 1832. Educated in the 
company of the most accomplished personages of the 
Austrian court, he had acquired a refinement of deportment 
that set off well his natural endowments. He spoke 
fluently six or seven languages, and his intellectual ac- 
quirements were of a high order. In 1857 he was married 
to the xTincess Maria Charlotte Amalia, daughter of Leo- 
pold I., King of the Belgians. This Princess, Carlota, — 
with whose sad history all the world is familiar — was at 
the time of her marriage seventeen years of age, and pos- 



492 



Mexico. 



sessed of more accomplishments than usually adorn even 
one of her exalted rank. Her charms of mind and person 
are acknowledged by all, even by those most bitterly op- 
posed to her occupation of the position in which she was 
falsely placed. Personally, then, these young sovereigns, 
in whose hands had been placed the destinies of the 
Mexican people, were well qualified to win their love and 
esteem. They arrived at Vera Cruz on the 28th of May, 
1864, where they were received wdth apparent enthusiasm, 




PORTRAIT OF MAXIMILIAN. 



and then set out for the. capital, all the way treated by the 
local authorities of towns and villages with popular demon- 
strations of affectionate greeting. 

At this late day, passing in review the acts of Maximilian, 
we believe that he was honest, first, in believing that he 
was called to Mexico by the popular voice ; second, in ac- 
cepting as sincere those expressions of joy at his arrival, 
from the people along the- route he travelled, then under 
French control. But he saw only a superficial demonstra- 



The New Sovereigns in the Capital. 493 

tion ; deep down in the nation's heart still strongly 
throbbed the desire for liberty — for the people, of the 
people, and by the people. Every grace of person and en- 
dowment of intellect he doubtless possessed ; but he was 
not the people's choice ; he had been imposed upon them 
by the machinations of a heartless and intriguing priest- 
hood, and supported by the bayonets of a foreign despot. 
When the bayonets should be withdrawn both ruler and 
priesthood would fall to earth. 



PORTRAIT OF CARLOTA. 



They arrived in the capital on the 12th of June, and 
took up their residence in the national palace. Later on, 
Maximilian reconstructed the Castle of Chapultepec, which 
became their favorite retreat, and they also dwelt in Cuer- 
navaca and Orizaba. One of his first public acts was the 
issuing of a general amnesty to all political prisoners, in- 
cluding those who had been "sentenced ; and he seems to 
have been animated by a sincere desire for the restoration 
of peace and the promotion of the welfare of his subjects. 
It has been said that the empire under Maximilian was as 



494 , Mexico. 

republican as the republic ; yet it was an empire, costly in 
its maintenance and supported by foreign mercenary 
troops, for whose services the very people they were tyran- 
nizing over were obliged to pay ! Great improvements 
were made in the streets of the city and in the suburbs, the 
most important of which were, the adorning of the great 
central square with flowers, trees, and fountains, and the 
laying out of the great avenue known as the Grand Paseo, 
leading to Chapultepec, which also was beautified at the 
people's cost. Large loans were contracted in London for 
the payment of the hireling troops and for the costly im- 
provements ; loans which the republic of Mexico, since the 
establishment of its independence, would be perfectly justi- 
fied in repudiating. 

It soon became apparent to the leaders of the Church 
party that they had not, in Maximilian, the willing tool they 
wished for the forwarding of their designs. His views 
were more liberal than theirs ; his sympathy with the people 
more pronounced and genuine. Perceiving that the 
republican movement was that of the masses, he would 
have identified himself with them ; but its loyal leaders 
strongly rejected his overtures. He soon found himself 
deserted and betrayed by the party that had called him to 
jDower in Mexico, and supported only by the strength of his 
Austrian, French, and Belgian legions. He precipitated 
his downfall and hurried matters to a crisis in October, 
1865, by signing what is known as the "black decree," 
which proclaimed all persons found fighting against the 
forces of the empire as banditti, and ordered that all such 
should be shot as soon as captured. By this decree many 
prominent republicans were murdered, including the brave 
Generals, Salazar and Arteaga. The feeling engendered 
against Maximilian by the publishing of this infamous 
proclamation was so deep that it eventually wrought his 



TJie United States Protest. 495 

destruction. It is claimed by his friends that he signed it 
at the instigation of General Bazaine, commander-in-chief 
of the French forces, after great pressure had been brought 
to bear upon him, and that he afterwards used great exer- 
tions to prevent executions under this act. It was neces- 
sary to use severe measures to check the progress of the 
guerillas, who swarmed throughout the country, and even 
infested the mountains around the valley of Mexico. If an 
excuse could be found in a retaliatory measure so harsh, it 
will be found in a decree of Juarez, similar in its provisions, 
against the imperialists, in which the death penalty is 
frequently applied, and which was issued January 25, 
1862. It was made contrary to the provisions of the con- 
stitution, which especially says that no two functions shall 
be invested in one body, as it was issued upon the sole 
authority of Juarez himself. " While this law of January 
25, 1862, stares the world in the face," says one of Maxi- 
milian's defenders, " the complaint of inhumanity against 
Maximilian comes with bad grace from the lips of the 
Juarez party." Further, in extenuation of the offences 
attributed to the emperor, it must be borne in mind that, 
while the French troops (who committed the greater part 
of these outrages against inoffensive Mexicans) were under 
the absolute control of their commander, (according to the 
treaty of Miramar), yet Maximilian, as the head of the 
nation, was responsible for their deeds ! 

[A. D. 1866.] While the powers of the United States 
were engaged in crushing a gigantic rebellion at home, the 
French troops were at liberty to supjDort the empire in 
Mexico ; but as soon as this was quelled Secretary Seward 
intimated to Napoleon that they must be withdraw^n. This, 
in short, is the substance of a long diplomatic correspond- 
ence. 

And the result was that, yielding to the pressure brought 



496 Mexico. 

to bear upon him by the United States, the Emperor of 
France reUnquished his pet scheme of estabUshing an 
empire in the New World, and abandoned MaximiUan to 
his fate, withdrawing his troops in disgrace. This was 
carried into effect in February, 1866. . 

News of this deplorable decision first reached Maxi- 
milian at his country retreat in Cuernavaca. Carlota, his 
noble wife, immediately volunteered to proceed to France 
to throw herself at the feet of Napoleon and implore him 
to continue his assistance. Leaving Mexico in July she 
arrived at Paris in August, and immediately sought an 
interview with the emperor. Her efforts were without 
avail, for he decidedly refused to permit another French 
soldier to set foot in Mexico, nor would he advance 
another franc for the support of the tottering empire. 
Overwhelmed with despair at the appalling prospect before 
her and her husband, Carlota left Paris and went to Rome, 
where she soon gave evidence that her reason had been 
shaken by the long series of trials she had undergone. 
She was conducted to her native country, Belguim, where 
she was confined in a castle near Brussels, and where she 
has since remained, subject to occasional fits of insanity. 

The remaining scenes of this tragedy were quickly 
shifted, and the drama of the empire soon taken from the 
stage. 

Each succeeding day saw Maximilian deeper in debt, 
the number of his friends decrease, and the growth of the 
movement against him. Seeing himself abandoned on all 
sides he resolved to abdicate the throne ; he even went so 
far as to set out for the coast, reaching Orizaba, in October, 
where he received news that induced him to return. 

The leaders of the conservative party became alarmed ; 
the departure of Maximilian would prove their certain ruin ; 
the recent return from Europe of Miramon and Marquez, 



Jiiarez and his Cabinet. 497 

two of their ablest generals, decided them to unite their 
ranks and to resist to the last the progress of the Liberal 
forces. Acting upon their advice and representations, he 
returned to the capital in December. 

While these events, narrated in the previous pages, had 
been transpiring, the patriot Juarez and his loyal cabinet 
had been the life and soul of the republican party. Through 
his talented minister at Washington, Romero, the United 
States government was kept informed of the true state of 
affairs. The value to Mexico of the labors of Mr. Romero 
cannot be overestimated. Though the direct successes of 
the Liberal arms are attributable to other leaders in various 
parts of the country, Juarez and his small circle of faithful 
adherents had formed a nucleus about which gathered the 
representatives of the people, and the central point from 
which emanated orders for their guidance. Driven from 
place to place by the advance of the French forces, he 
had finally reached the frontier town of El Paso, and had 
he retreated farther he, would have been obliged to seek 
a refuge in the United States. Upon the withdrawal of 
the foreign hirelings he had again returned southward, like 
the reflex waves of the ocean, which, though driven high 
upon the strand, return to their centre of propulsion. He 
had now reached the city of Zacatecas, and able generals 
were in command of his continually augmenting forces. 
Acting with great energy, the imperialist forces marched 
upon Zacatecas and took it, Juarez and his cabinet narrowly 
escaping capture and retreating to San Luis Potosi. 

[A. D. 1867.] The victorious army of Miramon was 
met by the avenging army of the north (Liberal) on the ist 
of February, 1867, and nearly annihilated; but, escaping 
to Queretaro, the forces were organized anew and prepared 
to resist, at that point, the onward march of the republican 
hosts. 



498 



Mexico. 



Queretaro is an ancient city, having been founded in 
1 53 1, on the site of a still more ancient Indian town. It is 
delightfully situated in a fertile valley, shut in by moun- 
tains on every side, and has a temperature combining the 
warmth of the hot country with that of the temperate 
region, as it lies at an altitude of 6,365 feet above the sea. 
Not only is it celebrated as the point where the empire 
of Maximilian was finally overthrown, but as that where 
the treaty with the United States, in 1848, was ratified by 
the Mexican Congress. 




MATIAS ROMERO. 



On the 19th of February, Maximilian reached Queretaro 
with reinforcements, received by the army and by the 
populace with enthusiasm. With the subsequent addition 
of another army under Marquez, the force at the command 
of Miramon was increased to nearly nine thousand men. 
The Liberal army has been estimated as high as thirty 
thousand, as the whole northern country contributed its 
quotas, and was under the command of General Escobedo, 
a valiant patriot, who had received his schooling in the war 
with the United States, and in various revolutions. The 



The Siege of Queretaro, 50 1 

city was invested so closely that provisions became ex- 
hausted, and the soldiers and citizens suffered extremelv. 
Active preparations for defence went on, in which Maxi- 
milian took a leading part. Finally, on the night of the 
14th of May, a portion of the Liberal forces obtained 
entrance into the city, through the treachery of one of 
Miramon's officers, a Colonel Lopez, and by daylight the 
city was in their possession. 

Maximilian was captured in the outskirts of the city, at 
the hill of bells — Cerro de las Campanas^ — Miramon was 
wounded and captured ; and, indeed, the entire force of 
the besieged surrendered, with but little resistance or 
bloodshed. A court-martial was soon held for the trial of 
the three high commanding officers, and they were sum- 
marily condemned to death. On the nineteenth of June, 
1867, was performed the last act of this terrible tragedy, 
when the Emperor Maximilian and Generals Miramon and 
Mejia were shot, by order of the court-martial and with the 
sanction of the commanding officer, Escobedo, and Presi- 
dent Juarez. 

It has been claimed that Maximilian was tried and sen- 
tenced contrary to the constitution of Mexico, contrary to 
the laws of nations, and contrary to the expressed wishes 
of the United States ; but it was considered necessary (in 
those days, when the national existence hung trembling in 
the balance), that a terrible example should be made, as a 
warning to foreign powers. The martyrs to the imperialist 
cause met their death with firmness, and Maximilian es- 
pecially, says the Mexican historian, with the valor of a 
gentleman and the dignity of a prince. The place where 
occurred this lamentable event is known as the Cerro de 
las Cainpanas, the same " hill of bells " at which Maximilian 
gave up his sword. Three crosses mark the spot where 
they fell, and indicate where the last Emperor of Mexico 
met his death. 



502 



Mexico. 



After the capture of Queretaro, the victorious Liberal 
army passed on towards the capital. Desperate fighting 
had been going on in and near the Mexican valley. Gen- 
eral Diaz, coming up from the south, had laid siege to 
Puebla, which was defended by the imperialist General 
Noriega. During the siege of Queretaro, when affairs 




EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN. 



appeared to be in a critical condition, Maximilian had de- 
spatched General Marquez to Mexico for reinforcements. 
This man, a traitor alike to his country and to his adopted 
cause, disobeyed the command, and, instead of hastening 
back to the succor of his beleaguered comrades, marched 
with his command against Diaz at Puebla. After taking 



Trmmph of the Liberal Cause. 503 

the city by storm, Diaz turned upon Marquez and com- 
pletely defeated him, the traitor leaving his troops to their 
fate and fleeing to the capital. There he conducted the 
most high-handed proceedings, under pretence of prepar- 
ing the capital for defence. The city of Mexico was soon 
invested by the Liberal troops, the valley filled with their 
armies, under the supreme command of General Diaz. On 
the 20th of June, after a siege of over two months, the city 
was attacked at all points, and sustained a terrible fire of 
artillery for several hours. On the 21st, it was occupied 
by General Diaz, at the head of the republican troops. 
Vera Cruz was occupied on the 4th of July, and thus, 
during the summer of 1867, the whole country came under 
republican rule. 

The 15th of July witnessed the entrance of Juarez and 
h,is cabinet, those loyal patriots who had been driven from 
the capital four years previously, and who now returned to 
witness the triumph of the principles for which they had so 
long contended. 

In November, the body of Maximilian was delivered to 
the Austrian admiral, Tegethoff, and was carried to Trieste, 
in the same frigate, the " Novara," in which the unfortu- 
nate prince and princess had sailed for Mexico, three 
years before. 



504 Mexico. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

MEXICO AFTER THE EMPIRE. 

Fear, even terror, possessed all those \vho had taken an 
active part in the foreign intervention, when they saw the 
inflexible determination the patriots had taken to sweep 
every obstacle from their path. This terrible government 
had not hesitated to destroy Prince Maximilian, brother of 
the Emperor of Austria ; it had not halted for a moment 
in its stern resolve to plant the flag of liberty in the capital 
of the republic. 

Now in power, with all its enemies within its grasp, those 
traitors who had aided foreigners in destroying domestic 
government had every reason to fear the most terrible 
reprisals. But, after the fever of victory had cooled, 
moderate measures prevailed, and though several hundred 
of the opposition were imprisoned, but few were condemned 
to death, and most of these eventually escaped punishment. 
Vidaurri, the traitor governor of a northern State, was an 
expiatory victim, while the arch-traitor of all, Marquez, 
escaped to Havana with his ill-gotten wealth. Before the 
end of the year 1867 the government had settled down to 
the work of reconstruction ; it issued decrees for the pay- 
ment of the internal debt, for the construction of railroads, 
for the organization of public instruction, and a change in 
the coinage at the public mints. 

On the 25th of December Don Benito Juarez, in accord- 
ance with the expressed will of the people in a majority of 
votes for president, renewed possession of the executive. 



Last Effort of Santa Anna, 



505 



The principal event of this year, after the establishment 
of government, was the attempt to excite rebellion by no 
less a personage than Santa Anna. The coming of Maxi- 
milian had found him an exile in Cuba and the island of 




STREET SCENE IN MEXICO. 



Saint Thomas. He at once offered his services to the 
emperor, but, being badly received, was converted into a 
decided enemy, and, after coming to the United States, he 
tendered his assistance to Juarez. Rejected by the 



5o6 Mexico. 

Liberals, he determined to organize a rebellion against the 
government, and chartered a steamer for Yucatan, where, 
instead of friends he found enemies ; he was seized, incar- 
cerated in the fortress at Vera Cruz, and after trial con- 
demned to death, which sentence was commuted by Juarez 
to eight years of exile. He returned to Mexico in 1874, 
under shelter of the general proclamation of amnesty, and 
died in obscurity in 1877. 

The first days of the new government were pacific, 
but unfortunately there soon commenced contentions 
among the Liberals themselves. The first cause of serious 
trouble was the necessary retrenchment of the military, and 
the disbanding and sending to their homes of the greater 
portion of the army. The brigades of Generals Diaz and 
Riva Palacio — who had rendered distinguished services — 
were disbanded, and these commanders retired to their 
homes in disgust. In the month of January, 1868, a rebel- 
lion appeared in Yucatan, which w^as only crushed by the 
energetic action of General Alatorre with a government 
force of two thousand men. In the state of Sinaloa there 
broke out a rebellion of threatening proportions, which 
was likewise quelled by the constitutional army. 

The gravest complications arose with the states of Zaca- 
tecas and San Luis Potosi, as also of Jalisco and Queretaro. 
In San Luis, on the 15th of December, 1869, Colonel 
Aguirre, with a large force of regular troops, pro7iounced 
against the government, and seized large supplies of 
material of war. The Governor of Zacatecas and also the 
legislature declared against the federal authorities, and be- 
tween them there soon appeared an army of eight thousand 
men. Rebel leaders also rose up in the states of Mexico, 
Hidalgo and Morelia, signs of disturbance were visible in 
Puebla, a party attacked Orizaba, another appeared at 
Jalapa; it appeared for the time as if the country was 



The Presidential Election. 507 

to return to the state of anarchy in which the intervention 
had found it. But the star of the federal government was 
in the ascendant; it successively met and defeated the 
rebels, dispersed the rank and file and shot the leaders, 
and within three months the disturbances were quelled, 
and Peace folded her wings for a while above the unhappy 
country. For the unprecedented period of seven months 
the country was unvexed by revolutions, but continued to 
be infested with criminals of every sort, notwithstanding 
numerous executions by the government. Peace was pre- 
served, not so much by the exertions of those in power as 
by the people themselves, who were looking forward to the 
prospective presidential election, and holding themselves 
ready to act according to the emergency of the moment. It 
soon became evident that Juarez would not willingly yield 
the power he had obtained at so much risk and bloodshed, 
and would hold himself up for re-election. He had two 
formidable opponents in his own party — the conservative 
party not yet presuming to reassert itself. These were : 
Don Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, and General Porfirio 
Diaz. 

Sefior Lerdo was one of the most remarkable men 
of the epoch in which he exerted an influence. He was 
born in Jalapa in 1825, and educated in Mexico. A 
lawyer by profession, he was elected, in 1855, a magistrate 
of the Supreme Court, and in 1861 a deputy to Congress. 
In 1863 he departed from the capital in company with 
Juarez, a member of that immortal cabinet that for four 
years followed the fortunes of their chief, and strove to up- 
hold the principles of the constitution during that dark 
period of adversity. His firm character contributed more 
than anything else to the success of the plans of Juarez, 
and these two formed an invincible force that eventually 
overcame the machinations of the enemies of their country. 



5o8 



Mexico. 



He was certainly entitled to the . consideration of the 
leaders of the Liberal party, and deserved well of the 
people he had so nobly battled for to conserve as a nation. 

There were then, the followers of Juarez — Jiiaristas ; 
those of Lerdo — Lerdistas — who opposed the principle of 
re-election as anti-democratic ; and a party of the opposition, 
mainly officers of the army, who fixed .upon Porfirio Diaz, 
and hence called themselves Forfiristas^ or " Constitution- 
alists." 

In the beginning of 1870 the principal papers of the 
republic took sides with one party or the t)ther, and party 




PORTRAIT OF LERDO DE TEJADA. 

quarrels were soon commenced. In May, 1871, the first of 
the series of proftu7icia?nientos declared itself at Tampico, 
when the federal garrison pronounced against the consti- 
tutional government. Troops were sent against them, and 
a battle resulted, in which more than six hundred men 
were either killed or wounded. The most terrible of the 
rebellions against constitutional authority was that which 
took place in the capital on the ist of October, in which 
the rebels got possession of the citadel, containing arms 
and military stores, armed nearly six hundred prisoners 



Jitarez re-elected. 



509 



liberated from the jail of Belem, and bade defiance to the 
upholders of the laws. President Juarez was left nearly 
alone in the palace, surrounded by a small guard, but 
he preserved his habitual calmness and serenity, quickly 

sum m o n e d 
his faithful 
generals, and 
made prepa- 
rations for 
bringing the 
rebels to or- 
der. The cit- 
adel was at- 
tacked and 
carried at the 
point of the 
bayonet, but 
only after 
great loss, 
the dead and 
wounded on 
both sides 
amounting to nearly 
eight hundred men. 
The customary execu- 
tions of culpable lead- 
ers followed, and peace 
was temporarily re- 

MEXICAN SAW-MILL. StOrcd. 

[A. D. 1871.] On the 12th of October Juarez was de- 
clared re-elected, obtaining a majority of votes through 
many deputies refraining from voting. In order to show 
that it really was what the opposition were pleased to call 
an " electoral farce " it will only be necessary to glance at 




5IO Mexico. 

the annexed figures. The electoral districts, according to 
the census, contained 8,836,411 inhabitants. The total 
number of votes cast was 12,361, of which Juarez received 
5,837, Diaz 3,555, and Lerdo 2,874. The re-election of 
Juarez was the signal for the discontented of the other two 
parties, into which the Liberals were divided, to resort to 
arms. Some had hoped that his re-election would be the 
sign of peace, others had contended that it would be a 
signal for civil war. "The truth is," says the historian, 
whose narrative we are mainly following * (himself a 
Mexican), "that the peace in Mexico will never be con- 
solidated until they learn to respect invariably the law, and 
so long as those who lose continue to appeal to arms." 
Well may the disinterested spectator have concluded, with 
those foreign leaders who united to intervene in Mexican 
politics, that the Mexicans could not — nor would they 
ever be able to — govern themselves. . The friend of 
Mexico, viewing the affairs of that time at a distance, 
may well have despaired of the political regeneration 
of her people. More than a thousand men — without 
regarding previous revolutions — had been killed in the 
year 187 1, in a time of peace ; yet these headstrong leaders 
again rushed to arms, prepared to desolate the country in 
a prolonged fratricidal strife ! On the 8th of November 
General Diaz issued a manifesto at his hacienda of 
Noria — hence called the " Plan of Noria " — in which he 
called for an "Assembly," to bring about a new order of 
things. Outbreaks and rebellions followed close upon this 
manifesto, and the end of 187 1 saw the country again in 
disturbance, rebels swarming everywhere, and Diaz hiding 
in the mountains about Mexico. In an encounter between 
Juarez and Diaz troops, in the last days of December, 
nearly nine hundred men were put hors de combat^ and 

* Payno : " Compendio de la Historia de Mexieo." 



Rebellio7is against Juarez, 513 

many brave officers were killed and wounded. The right 
arm of the government at this time was General Rocha, 
who was continually fighting the rebels, first in one part 
of the country and then in another, making prodigious 
marches and performing most difficult feats of arms with 
his veteran soldiers. 

The real, or pretended cause of the disaffection of the 
people (as we have seen) was the electoral question. 
Though the great services of Juarez were generally recog- 
nized, yet his long continuance in power, and his continued 
arbitrary acts, had now disgusted the people of the several 
states. They looked upon him as a despot, many of 
them, and regarded his retention of the presidential chair 
as unconstitutional. The campaign against the revolution- 
ists continued twelve or fourteen months, but by the end of 
May, 1872, the country was nearly pacified. 

[A. D. 1872.] An unexpected event brought all rev- 
olutionary proceedings to a close, in July, by the removal 
of the cause. On the eighteenth of that month, death sud- 
denly visited President Juarez, and transferred this 
incorruptible patriot to a higher court. His remains were 
interred with great solemnity on the 23d of July, over four 
thousand persons taking part in the funeral ceremonies. 

His successor, President Lerdo (President of the Court 
of Justice), was quietly installed, and the functions of 
government were as regularly performed as before. No 
radical change occurred, Senor Lerdo carrying out the 
plans of his predecessor, appealing to the nation to observe 
the cause of reform, and issuing a general amnesty, under 
which those yet in rebellion came in and gave themselves 
up, and resistance to lawful authority ceased. The com- 
mission appointed by Congress to decide upon the matter 
declared Lerdo to be the constitutional president, he 
having received 10,465 votes, against 678 cast for Diaz, 



514 Mexico. 

[A. D. 1873.] In January, 1873, the Mexican railroad, 
connecting the city of Mexico with Vera Cruz, was 
inaugurated. This road, now for the first time thrown 
open to the pubhc, had been sixteen years in process 
of construction, and was a work of such magnitude that it 
is even now considered a marvel of engineering skill. 
Early in the commercial history of Mexico, the necessity 
had been felt for improved means of communication 
between the coast and the capital. A " concession," (the 
first) had been granted so far back as 1837 ; in 1842 
Santa Anna declared afl additional duty of two per cent of 
the customs for the benefit of this and other highways ; 
in 185 1 two or three miles had been constructed; in 1857 
the concession passed into the hands of Senor Escandon, a 
capitalist of Mexico ; in 1864 this right was ceded to the 
" Imperial Mexican Company," recognized by Maximilian, 
and in 1867 (when but forty-seven miles were completed) 
the Juarez government annulled its privileges for treating 
with a foreign power; these were, however, restored, in 
1858, and the work went on. The difficulties encountered 
were almost insuperable, but, under the direction of 
English and Mexican engineers, the mountains were 
successfully scaled, and the capital of Mexico placed in 
connection with its chief seaport by January i, 1873. 
The direct line is two hundred and sixty-three miles in 
length, and with the branch to the city of Puebla, about 
three hundred miles. 

The year 1872 was noted for the number of its assassi- 
nations and for the abductions of prominent citizens. One 
well-known citizen of the capital was abducted in one of 
the streets of the city and incarcerated in a dungeon under 
most cruel conditions. The governor acted vigorously 
with the abductors, who were captured and shot. In 
May, 1873, the passions of the people were excited by the 



The First Protestant Martyr. 515 

severe treatment and expulsion of some Jesuits from the 
country. 

It was in 1874, in the month of March, that the first 
Protestant martyr^ John L. Stephens, was murdered by 
Roman Catholic fanatics, in the town of Ahualulco. The 
introduction of the Bible into Mexico, and the dissemina- 
tion of Christian ideas was the work of devout men who 
followed in the track of the American army, in 1847. 
Until that time the centuries of darkness had been un- 
illumined by biblical truth. 

At about the same time that Mr. Stephens was assassin- 
ated, two commercial travellers were murdered on the 
highway; their murderers- were caught and summarily 
shot, while those of the Protestant minister were allowed to 
escape, though condemned to death. The native historian 
naively states it in the following words : " The governor 
and authorities displayed much activity and the assassins 
of Bartholy were apprehended and shot ; those of Stephens 
were condemned to death ! " 

The Protestant Episcopal Church, in 187 1, sent out a 
missionary, in the person of Rev. H. C. Riley, and mission 
work was initiated in Mexico. He was closely followed by 
Presbyterian missionaries. Baptists, Congregationalists, 
and Methodists. The latter sect has been, undoubtedly, 
the most successful, and to them the field is virtually 
conceded. In the city of Mexico they were granted a 
portion of a vast old conventual structure, and the govern- 
ment — notwithstanding the opposition of the Romish 
Church — exhibited a friendliness that was encouraging. 
Churches, chapels and mission-houses have been erected 
and congregations formed, until at the present time there 
are over two hundred preachers in the field, the majority 
being native Mexicans. . They have not escaped persecu- 
tion, and rarely a year passes that some missionary is not 



5i6 Mexico. 

murdered. In spite of the fact that the Roman Catholics 
are not in power, they manage to keep alive the slumbering 
embers of fanaticism, and every few months fan it into 
a flame that is not extinguished save with the blood of a 
Protestant. 

To the credit of the present government, it must be said 
that it endeavors faithfully to protect the new sects it 
encouraged to enter this wide field. The Methodists, 
under Rev. Dr. Butler, publish an excellent Christian 
paper, and are indefatigable in their efforts to extend the 
gospel of truth and righteousness. 

Save for the operations of guerillas, in remote and 
unprotected districts, and a rising against federal authority 
in Michoacan and Sinaloa — which rebellions lasted 
nearly eighteen months — the years of 1874 and 1875 
passed by without disturbance. An arbitrary act of the 
government, — the expulsion from the territory of the 
Sisters of Charity, in 1874 — again brought the religious 
question before the press, and awoke the most bitter 
feelings in the breasts of the people. Though the govern- 
ment defended its action by the plea of the necessity of 
making thorough work of the religious orders, and urged 
tlie same objections against the Sisters of Charity as 
against the Jesuits — namely, that they were in the service 
of the Pope, and secretly undermining the lawful govern- 
ment of Mexico — yet one cannot help feeling that a more 
gentle treatment could have been found available. Dis- 
regarding all petitions and entreaties, the authorities 
forced above three hundred of these unfortunate Sisters to 
leave the country, and seek asylums in other lands, in 
January and February, 1875. This cruel edict of expulsion 
revived anew the long-buried passions of many, and gave 
rise to several insurrections, notably that of Michoacan. 

[A. D. 1875.] The army had become by this time well- 



Presidency of Lerdo de Tejada. 5^7 

drilled and an efficient power, chiefly owing to the in- 
defatigable exertions of General Rocha, who had saved 
the government from its enemies when struggling against 
foes raised against it from its own ranks. He was now 
denounced as designing to use this effective military 
organization to place himself in power, and thrown into 
prison. During his short term in prison he may have had 
occasion to reflect upon the ingratitude of his country, and 
to pass in review the sad endings of the lives of preceding 
patriots, from Guerrero to Comonfort, and Mexia. 

During 1875 disturbances arose on the border between 
Mexico and the United States, and the former power ex- 
hibited her desire to mete out justice by ordering her gen- 
eral in command in that section (Tamaulipas) under arrest. 
In August of the same year Chiapas, a state in the south, 
bordering on Guatemala, was invaded by a renegade Mexi- 
can with a force from Guatemala. Though this invasion 
was promptly met and the force destroyed, yet it was the 
occasion of reopening the question of territory between the 
two republics of Mexico and Guatemala. The latter re- 
public laid claim to Chiapas, or at the least the province of 
Soconusco, and the question is still pending between the 
two governments, though with every probability of being 
settled by the retention of this territory as a portion of 
Mexico. 

The years 1874 and 1875 ^^^^ attended with a less 
number of murders and crimes in general than any preced- 
ing epoch, and the offenders met with more speedy and im- 
partial punishment, yet the list of crimes is by no, means 
small. The important events of this period were the going 
forth of an expedition to observe the transit of Venus, and 
the appropriation by Congress of $300,000 to properly 
represent Mexico at the coming Centennial Exposition in 
Philadelphia. Floods and earthquakes vexed the country 



5 1 8 Mexico, 

during 1875 ; but the march of improvement, which had 
commenced on the advent of the Party of Reform, con- 
tinued its iminterrupted progress. 

In December, 1874, a decree of Congress gave to Senores 
Camacho and Mendizabel a concession for a railroad 
to Leon. This was the initiatory movement which has re- 
sulted in that grand enterprise, a railroad from the capital 
of Mexico to her northern frontier, at El Paso. Already, 
in 1873, the question of granting subsidies to railroads to 
be built by American capitalists had been discussed in 
Congress. The English railroad, from Vera Cruz to the 
capital, received an annual benefaction of $560,000 ; and 
but for this aid would never have been built, or, if built, 
could not have been operated. A lottery was established 
in aid of the new enterprise, called the " Lottery of the 
Central Railroad." Roads, railways, and telegraph lines 
continued to be built and started, until, to-day, Mexico is 
covered with a network of wires, and dissected in every 
portion by real and projected roads. Under the wise and 
energetic government of Senor Lerdo, the peace of the 
country had been preserved and commerce protected. 
Mexico now began to assert her ancient claim to be con- 
sidered among the great exporting nations of the world. 
In the fiscal year ending in 1875 the exports from the port 
of Vera Cruz amounted to $16,375,586, of which $14,000,- 
000 were in silver ore and gold. 

[A. D. 1876.] Towards the end of 1875 it became 
apparent that the state of peace could not long continue ; 
in fact, the year that brought to us, of the United States, 
the hundredth anniversary of our independence, was to 
find unhappy Mexico again plunged into civil war. The 
inspiring genius of this unfortunate movement, which had 
for its object the overthrow of the heads of government, 
was General Porfirio Diaz, who, from a place of security on 



The Revohuion under Diaz. 



5ig 



the border, directed the revolutionary operations. Insti- 
gated by him and his chiefs, rebeUions multiplied so fast that 
the distracted government knew not in which direction to 
send its troops. The principal of these were the insurrec- 
tions of the Indians of Oaxaca — birthplace of Diaz — and 
of Jalisco. From Sonora to Yucatan, the Porfiristas were 
rising. We have seen that General Diaz retired disap- 




GENERAL PORFIRIO DIAZ. 



pointed to his hacienda, at the disbanding of troops, and in 
his seclusion, it seems, he had formed his plan for a return 
to the possession of the power he thirsted to obtain. 
Murders, assassinations, robberies and abductions were 
now once more rife in the country, which so recently had 
enjoyed a short interval of peace, and it seemed as though 
all the battles of the past fifty years would require to 



5 20 Mexico. 

be fought over again. Space forbids even an enumeration 
of the. pronujzciamie7ttos of this period. The train to Vera 
Cruz was stopped, on the 19th of March, and the com- 
mander of its escort foully murdered, while all communi- 
cation with that seaport was for a time interrupted. 

In a paper published in Mexico — " The Nineteenth 
Century " — appeared on the 7th of May, 1876, the " Plan " 
of General Diaz, dated from Palo Blanco (state of Tamau- 
lipas), in which were denounced the President of the 
Republic, the Congress and the recognized authorities. 
This man found a pretext for his revolutionary acts in the 
declaration that Lerdo did not merit a re-election. A large 
body of the people shared in this idea, but it was more in 
accordance with Mexican character to desire a change 
than to appreciate stability and peace. No fault was 
found with Seiior Lerdo, save that he had retained in 
his cabinet the old ministers of Juarez, who had become 
obnoxious to the people, simply from the fact that they had 
been in office so long ! Rotation in office seems to have 
been a fixed principle in Mexican ideas of government. 
To state it in brief : the political and military revolutionary 
leaders of Mexico regarded moi*e highly the benefits accru- 
incr from an office than the office itself; and now, disre- 
garding the fact that the country was well governed, 
sought the overthrow of its leader that they themselves 
might have a share in the spoils. We have seen similar 
demagogues in power in our own country ; but the difter- 
ence between them lies mainly in the fact that in one 
country they appeal to arms, and in the other to the votes 
of the people ; in Mexico many are haply slain before they 
accomplish much harm ; in the United States they run 
their corrupt careers to the bitter end. 

Several bloody actions ensued between the government 
and the rebel forces, in which hundreds were killed and 



Lerdo Leaves Mexico. 52 1 

wounded. Alatorre and Escobedo were the prominent 
generals on the Federal side, while Gonzalez, Trevino, and 
Hernandez were conspicuous as leaders of the rebels. 
Diaz returned to Mexico at much personal risk, and fleeing 
to his native hills of Oaxaca, there organized an immense 
force of the Indians of the sierras, and commenced a 
march upon the capital. He had previously been defeated 
in battle in New Leon, whence he had escaped to New 
Orleans, and thence to Oaxaca, via Vera Cruz. 

The popular election for president took place in July, 
1876, in which, in every district not occupied by Porfirista 
forces, Lerdo obtained the majority of votes. This popular 
verdict was sanctioned in September by the electoral 
college, after a stormy debate, declaring Senor Lerdo de 
Tejada the constitutional- President of Mexico by a vote of 
123 to 49. . 

With a barren treasury, with a country swarming with 
enemies, and an active foe at the very gates of the capital, 
Senor Lerdo held no very enviable position. On the i6th 
of November Gener^ Alatorre was defeated by Gonzalez, 
of the Porfirista army, at Tecoac, near Puebla, and this 
event caused the president to decide upon evacuating 
(though perhaps temporarily) the city of Mexico. On the 
20th he left the city, accompanied by his cabinet and some 
influential persons, and on the 24th General Porfirio Diaz 
entered it, at the head of his army. 

The so-called constitutional army was composed mainly 
of the Indians of the sierras (hills) of Oaxaca and Puebla, 
half-clad and incompletely armed — the very offscourings 
of the population — and partly of government troops who 
had been seduced by Diaz. 

At this time there were actually three presidents in Mexico, 
each with his cabinet, and each invoking in his favor the 
Constitution of 1857. Difficult (says the native historian) 



522 Mexico, 

is it for the impartial chronicler, much less the youthful 
reader, to comprehend who was in the right in this political 
labyrinth. It does not seem difficult to the impartial 
reader of another nation to decide. On the side of law 
and order was Lerdo, the constitutionally elected President 
of the Republic ; against him was the usurper, Diaz, at the 
head of a revolutionary army ; and the former president 
of the Supreme Court of Justice, Jose Iglesias, who was 
vainly endeavoring to have himself recognized as supreme 
ruler. 

It does not seem possible that President Lerdo could 
have had any intention of abandoning the trust committed 
in him by the people. When we remember his noble 
bearing during the trying times when in the persecuted 
cabinet of Juarez, and his firmness in dealing with the 
foreign invaders, we cannot but wonder at his pusillanimity 
in deserting the capital without offering resistance to Diaz. 
It is probable that prudence prevailed over ^ambition, and 
that, unwilling to involve his fellow-citizens in bloodshed, 
he retired until some peaceable solution of the question 
might present itself. Not meeting with that reception in 
the interior which he may have reasonably expected — 
a reaction having set in amongst his own adherents of the 
military class — he sadly turned his footsteps to the western 
coast, and taking steamer at Acapulco sought refuge in 
the United States. 

We now see Diaz, who had pronouftced, not only against 
Juarez — owing to not having been the object of military 
preferment — but against Lerdo upon equally trivial pre- 
text — in possession of supreme power in the capital. With 
a large army at his disposal — for the native Mexican will 
fight equally well under any leader, and Lerdo's most faith- 
ful troops were now most ardent Porfiristas — Diaz soon 



General Diaz as President. 523 

put down all opposition, and intrenched himself in an im- 
pregnable position. 

[A. D. 1877.] Previous to sallying forth from the 
capital to meet the troops of Iglesias, at Queretaro, Diaz 
named as second general-in-chief of the " constitutional " 
army, and Provisional President of the Republic, Senor 
Juan Mendez. Upon the return of Diaz from his northern 
expedition, his minion, Mendez, issued a call for a convo- 
cation for the election of president. The result was that 
General Porfirio Diaz was " unanim.ously " declared " con- 
stitutional President " of the Republic, on the second day 
of May, 1877. 

The manner of his election cannot fail to bring to mind 
that Junta of Notables of the Church party, which ap- 
pointed the Regency, which in turn confirmed in power the 
aforenamed Junta, which precipitated the French interven- 
tion. 

The constant state of inquietude on the border, on both 
sides of the Rio Grande, excited in the minds of many 
Mexicans the fear that their neighbors of the United 
States meditated another invasion of their territory. But, 
notwithstanding the numerous outrages committed by 
lawless parties of both repubhcs, and the necessity of send- 
ing our troops across the border to punish hostile Indians 
and cattle thieves, no serious complication resulted. 

The last revolutionary chief who had vaulted into the 
presidential chair in Mexico was not at first recognized by 
the United States. 

General Diaz at first experienced considerable difficulty in 
reorganizing his cabinet, and it was not until the admission 
of Matias Romero to the management of the affairs of the 
Hacienda — or public treasury — that anything like order 
was restored. The conservative party had not yet re- 



524 Mexico, 

covered from its terrible defeat, but the Liberals still con- 
tinued divided. They were now known as Porfiristas^ 
Tuxtepecanos, and Lerdistas. The former were the intimate 
friends of Diaz, who were now recipients of rewards for 
their devotedness to his interests ; the second insisted upon 
his recognizing the "plans," or pretexts, by which he had 
placed himself in power ; the third party was composed of 
friends of Lerdo, the only legally-elected president. After 
a few ineffectual protests, the latter abandoned the field 
and left the usurper in possession. 

[A. D. 1878.] General Diaz, though he had attained his 
triumph upon the " Plan of Tuxtepec," made no actual 
changes in the form of government as pursued by his 
predecessor. His pretext had served his purpose, and had 
elevated him to command. Policy dictated that he should 
govern according to the laws of the Constitution of 1857. 
His own interests demanded that he should place himself 
at the front of the progressive movement. He had the 
sagacity of Santa Anna as well as the firmness of that oft- 
elected ruler of Mexico; and there is no doubt, had 
occasion demanded it, he would have striven as hard to re- 
gain his position, had he been overthrown at the outset. 
But the times had changed since the days of Santa Anna ; 
the people had grown weary of fighting ; they cared little 
who ruled them, so long as he appeared to rule wisely. 
Hence it was that Diaz was not sent into exile within a 
short period, and continued in power till the end of the 
term for which he had elected himself. Not that there 
were not the usual number of disturbances in distant dis- 
tricts i not that there were not rebellions and pronuncia- 
mientos by disaffected partisans who were neglected in the 
distribution of ofiices ! On the contrary, many of these 
occurred, but they were soon quelled, owing to the loyalty 
of the army, which Diaz had completely won. The first of 



Insurrection Quelled. 



525 



these who adopted Diaz' own tactics against himself was 
one Lomeli, in Jalisco. Then there was a serious move- 
inent on the frontier, headed by no less a personage than 
General Escobedo, who looked to a restoration of the 
banished president, Lerdo. This grand 
old warrior, a second Guerrero, was 
made prisoner, and incarcerated finally 
in the prison of Santiago. This seems 
to have been the fate of nearly every 
Mexican commander who fought upon 









principle, and re- 
fused to change his 
colors with every suc- 
cessful usurper of su- 
preme power. 

In March, 1869, 
there was a serious 
outbreak in the mili- 
tary district of Tepic, 
which the govern- 
ment put forth great 
exertions to subdue, 

and in June, of the same year, the war steamer " Liberty " 
pronounced against the administration of Tuxtepec. This 
event caused for awhile terror and confusion on the coast, 
as it was something new in the annals of pronunciamientos, 



MARKET SCENE, CITY OF MEXICO. 



526 Mexico. 

which until this time had been entirely on land. A minU- 
terial crisis was brought about soon, by which there was 
placed in power, as Secretary of War, General Manuel Gon- 
zalez. This able lieutenant of Diaz had resided in retire- 
ment on his hacienda since the battle of Tecoac, at which 
action he was wounded. His services had not been for- 
gotten by the president, who now rewarded him, paving the 
way (as we shall shortly see) for his elevation to the highest 
office in the power of the nation to bestow. 

[A. D. 1879.] The rebellion of Tepic, being at that time 
unsubdued. General Gonzalez, in December, 1879, "^^^ 
placed in command of a numerous and well-appointed 
army, and succeeded in bringing the inhabitants of that 
territory to terms. He also prepared the way for the 
peaceful progress of the election for president, which had 
now begun to agitate the country. It happened now (as 
had ever been the case) that a period of calm preceded 
this important event, the people refraining from arms, and 
holding themselves in readiness to respond to their various 
leaders when the result of the election should be pro- 
claimed. 

As has been remarked in an early stage of Mexican inde- 
pendence, military prestige is essential to success in Mexican 
politics. This is no less true at present than in the early 
years of the republic, and those who were manipulating 
the preliminaries for General Gonzalez well understood 
this fact. His pacification of the territory of Tepic and his 
good standing with the army won for him half the battle. 
Although the papers of the country were exceedingly bitter 
in their controversies, yet there were no scenes of bloodshed 
enacted. The president and the army were with Gonzalez, 
and who, then, could oppose him ? 

[A. D. 1880.] On the 30th of November, General Diaz 
yielded the power he had wielded since the battle of 



Gonzalez, President of Mexico 527 

Tecoac to his successor, the hero of that battle, and 
General Gonzalez became ruler of Mexico. Much astonish- 
ment has been expressed that Diaz did not secure — what 
he undoubtedly could have done — a re-election.. But this 
he could not have done consistently with the principles he 
professed to believe in, for he had combated Lerdo upon 
the basis of no re-election. He resigned the reins of 
government into the hands of his friend, Gonzalez, with 
good grace, more especially as he still continued de facto 
President of Mexico. 

To those who believe General Diaz capable of commit- 
ting the great sacrifice of voluntarily giving up what it cost 
him so much to obtain, and that pure patriotism dictated 
his act of abdication, it will only be necessary to point out 
a certain amendment to the constitution : — 

"The president will enter upon his duties on the ist of 
December, and will remain in office four years. He will 
not be eligible for re-election for the period immediately* 
succeeding, neither shall he occupy the presidency, for any 
reason, until four years have passed Without his exercising 
executive functions." 

This is a liberal translation of " Article 78," as amended 
in 1877. It would, perhaps, be well to remember this amend- 
ment, made to bolster General Diaz in his position. If 
General Diaz does not assert a claim to the presidency in 
the coming election of 1884, then we may award him his 
full meed of praise. At present we can only hold our 
judgment in reserve, for he has done nothing that especi- 
ally redounds to his credit, unless disinterested. We see, 
in his act, merely the transfer of authority from one revo- 
lutionary chief to another, who holds his high office as 
a trust, until his superior officer can again become eligible 
under the law. Upon his retirement from the presidency 
Diaz was provided with a place in the cabinet, as " Minister 



528 Mexico. 

of Fomento," or public works, and the next year was 
installed as governor of the State of Oaxaca, by orders of 
the central government. 

A noteworthy event in the commercial history of Mexico 
was the arrival in the capital of a party of nearly one 
hundred and forty ' merchants and commercial men of 
Chicago, in January, 1879. Their coming was hailed by 
the Mexicans as an omen of increasing prosperity, and the 
western capitalists were everywhere treated with that 
courtesy and attention their exalted position merited. 

A year later, in February, 1880, General Grant, ex- 
president of the United States, concluded his extended tour 
around the world by visiting Mexico. He was received, like 
the business men from Chicago, with the vivas of an enthu- 
siastic people. Processions were formed in his honor, and 
he was lodged and fed at the cost of the municipality. His 
visit was without political significance, although certain 
seditious leaders of opinion in Mexico disseminated the 
foolish report that he desired to eventually establish him- 
self as dictator in that country. That his motives were 
friendly towards Mexico was conclusively proven in the 
following year, when he returned to that country em- 
powered by some New York capitalists to secure a con- 
cession for a railroad, w4iich, if built, will greatly benefit 
the southern portion of Mexico. 

Within the past five years vast and important changes 
have taken place in Mexico. Through the impulse of 
American capital and energy, she is taking immense strides 
onward towards a glorious future of prosperity. Her mines 
are being developed — those inexhaustible veins of silver 
and gold, that have been worked ever since the period of 
the conquest without yet showing signs of depletion. 

Greater progress has been made in the direction of rail- 
way construction than was ever known before. 



Material and Intellectual Progress. 529 

We have noticed the commencement of the first impor- 
tant railroad, and the granting of " concessions," or permis- 
sions, to build. 

Since the dates of the latter events nothing has occurred 
to interrupt their continued advance. Capital has flowed 
into the country from every portion of the United States, 
chiefly from the North. Two great international lines 
have not only availed themselves of the liberal subsidies 
granted by the Mexican government, but have worked with 
such energy that more than a thousand miles, all told, are 
in actual operation. Four other railway enterprises also 
seek ingress into Mexico, and her territory will soon be 
covered with a network of steel that shall rival in leno;th 
the web of wire woven across her by the lines of the 
telegraph and telephone. All these great lines either 
diverge from, or seek a terminal station in, the city of 
Mexico, that ancient capital of the Aztecs, now, as then, 
the centre of Mexican civilization and progress. 

Under the fostering care of government the revenues 
have been steadily augmented, until the last fiscal year of 
1881-2 showed a grand total of $27,500,000, an increase 
over the year previous of $4,500,000. 

Material progress has not outstripped intellectual ad- 
vancement, as schools, colleges, and libraries have sprung 
up all over the land. At the secularization of the church 
property the vast conventual buildings became the property 
of the State, and the great libraries, containing many and 
rare volumes, were thrown open to the public. These 
have formed nuclei, about which have been gathered new 
and modern books, and from which the popular mind is 
being supplied with intellectual food. The newspapers 
published in Mexico, according to a recent statement in a 
leading paper, number two hundred and eighty-three, of 
which ninety-four appear in the capital. They print, in 



530 Mexico. 

the aggregate, 378,000 copies, with a total annual circu- 
lation of 47,000,000 copies. The libraries of Puebla 
and the city of Mexico are becoming models of their 
class. Of paintings, by many famous artists, Mexico has 
her full share, as the viceroys and the wealthy men of the 
IDast century adorned convents and churches with many 
gems of art. The Academy of San Carlos, in Mexico, 
contains masterly productions, not only of Mexico's 
talented sons, but of painters long since famous in the 
world of art, and sculptures that have received the 
encomiums even of such men as the great Humboldt. 

The scientific world is indebted to Mexico for such illus- 
trious nam^es as Cubas, Orozcoy Berra, Mendoza, Blazquez, 
and Barcena, shining lights among a host of lesser lumin- 
aries. These indefatigable w^orkers, in the National 
Museum and in the Meteorological Observatory of the 
Capital, are marching with the van-guard of scientific 
observers. Only those writers ignorant of their labors, 
and unacquainted with the language in which they publish 
them, have the temerity to assert that Mexico has produced 
no men of mark in the realm of thought and original 
investigation. Their works are a standing refutation to 
such slanderous statements, and when they shall be col- 
lected, and translated into the leading languages of the 
world, they will form a monument to genius that any 
nation might well be proud of. 

Mexico assuredly contains within herself every element 
of prosperity ; she has the richest mines in the world, the 
most varied resources of agricultural wealth, and the 
greatest variety of soil, surface, and climate. It only re- 
mains with her people, who now number ten millions, to 
properly conserve and develop this vast wealth, for her to 
take a leading position among the nations of the world. 

She has now enjoyed an almost uninterrupted peace of 



Mexican Pledges of Peace, 



531 



nearly five years. Will that peace continue, and will her 
people accept the lessons the experience of sixty years of 
revolutions should have taught them ? Is there any assur- 
ance that peace will continue for, even, five years more, and 
that they will not rush to arms at the first trumpet blast of 
any revolutionary leader ? 

Their much maligned civil wars were not 
always struggles between rival leaders, but 
at times desperate battles for freedom, with 
as good a cause to fight for as ever our 




CANAL OF LA VIGA, CITY OF MEXICO. 



fathers had in 1776. But, through a long continuance of 
this evil, civil war, the Mexican people do not entertain that 
horror of bloodshed that prevails in a country blessed with 
years of peace. It has given birth to hosts of men with mill- 



5 32 Mexico. 

tary aspirations, to men who thirst for power and military 
fame, and who are ready to seize upon any pretext for ob- 
taming it. We have seen this on the occasion of the last 
successful revolution ; and though General Diaz, once firmly 
seated, used his power temperately and wisely, and promoted 
the arts of peace and progress, no security can be given that 
the next J)ronundador against lawful authority will conduct 
himself with such moderation General Diaz was a saga- 
cious man, who saw the necessity for arraying his forces on 
the side of progress, and who recognized the fact that his 
country could not much longer endure the odium of the 
world for her deeds of violence. Was it policy or patriot- 
ism that guided him .? 

If, in the coming election of 1884, he shall rise to the 
position of a disinterested spectator, and abstain from 
any fresh act of violence, he will receive, and merit, the 
highest praise. If, on the contrary, he demands back from 
his henchman, Gonzalez, the presidential chair, as a right 
acquired by conquest, — though under pretext of a vote 
from the people — will not his country be precipitated anew 
into a state of anarchy and confusion ? Is it not as true 
now as it was in years past, that : " In Mexico, more than 
anywhere else, political parties are actuated by interest, 
not by conviction " ? 

Suffrage is only nominally universal. The poor Indian 
has the right to vote, but rarely exercises it; and then 
never inquires how the election returns are manipulated in 
the interests of those who are in office, and who desire to 
stay in. 

A strong central government, arbitrary, almost despotic, 
in its character, rules Mexico. It is not the will of the 
people that is expressed, but the will of a few. The rail- 
roads, telegraphs, improved methods of communication, are 



Mexico Marching on, 533 

they actual evidences of the regeneration of Mexico, and of 
her sincere desire for internal improvement and external 
communication ; or, rather, the outgrowth of that central 
system of government, which encourages all means of con- 
nection with remote provinces, in order that it may the 
more easily quell any incipient revolution ? It sits in- 
trenched in its capital in the valley of Mexico, and, 
Briareus-like, stretches out its iron claws to grasp the disaf- 
fected throughout its territory. 

Mexico has passed through terrible ordeals, and has be- 
come in a measure purified ; yet she is still on probation 
before the world. Not her most enthusiastic friend dare 
assert that she is in the enjoyment of an assured peace, 
while the elements of disturbance : unscrupulous leaders, 
and ignorant people in the majority, still exist; and a 
crushed, though still powerful, priesthood, is nursing its 
wrath and gaining to itself strength for a renewal of the 
contest between Church and State. 

Upon the wisdom and forbearance of her rulers for 
the coming decade depends Mexico's salvation. If a crisis 
does not occur in the approaching piresidential election, the 
friends of Mexico may well take courage and indulge in 
the hope of a permanent peace. 

Mexico, to-day, is a confederated republic of twenty- 
seven states, one territory, and one federal district, with a 
form of government modelled after that of the United 
States. The press is free, and religious liberty is com- 
plete, in theory, and no one is molested for his political 
opinions. Commerce and labor flow on unmolested in 
regular channels, and the internal and external obligations 
of the country are being paid with regularity. Her position 
to-day, except for the uncertain state of her politics, is 
one to be envied. Every indication points towards an 



534 



Mexico. 



era of prosperity hitherto without a parallel in her history. 
The whole world looks upon her advancement with atten- 
tion, and the people of the United States, especially, are 
sincerely united in the desire that she has entered upon 
a long and uninterrupted 



PERIOD OF PEACE. 




Young Folks' Histories, 



SECOND SERIES. 

AMERICA By H. Buttp:rworth. 

MEXICO .By Frederick A- Ober. 

NETHERLANDS By Alexander Young. 

RUSSIA ...... . . .By Nathan H. Dole. 

FIJ^ST SERIES. 

By Ch \rlotte M. Yonge. 
BIRF.E. ROME. 

ENGLAND. GREECE. 

FRANCE. GERMANY. 

THE GREAT CITIES. 

LONDON By W. H. Rideing. 

BOSTON By H. Butterworth. 

IN PREPARATION. 

Edinburgh By F. H. Allen. 

New York By Martha J. Lamb. 

Constantinople By Nathan H. Dole. 

Each one volume, 16mo. Uniform. Cloth, $1.50. 
Fully Illustrated, 

ESTES AND LAURIAT, Publishers. 



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